


Lost Soul

by Tsubaki94



Series: The Pro's and Con's of being Danny Phantom [13]
Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Anger, Drama, F/M, Gen, Missing, Psychological Torture, Torture, injured
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-11-13
Packaged: 2019-05-18 13:13:41
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 24
Words: 48,834
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14853428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tsubaki94/pseuds/Tsubaki94
Summary: Things are slowly getting back to normal in Amity Park, apart from the physical and emotional injuries Danny sustained while helping the BAU he finally feel like he got control over his life again. So of course, that’s when other’s planes are set in motion.





	1. Chapter 1

The bell rang and the students in Mr Lancer’s English class started packing up their thing, hurrying to get to the cafeteria before the line became too long. “Mr Fenton would you stay behind.” Said Lancer, getting a confused look from the teenager. He exchanged a few words with his ever-present friends before they joined the rest of the students leaving the classroom.

The last person out closed the door and Danny walked up to Mr Lancer’s desk his hands digging in to his hoodie pocket, a new hoodie noted Lancer, this one being a light blue shade and less washed out than the maroon Danny normally sported. “Did I forget to hand something in?” he asked seeming a bit more nervous than he normally did when Lancer called him out.

“You tell me Mr Fenton.” Said Lancer, taking out both Danny’s Math and English homework that he had handed in at the beginning of class. “Care to explain this?” asked Lancer, pushing the papers over his desk so Danny could clearly see them.

Tilting his head Danny stared down at the papers, Lancer had already graded them but in the end he had to put an F on the work. “I don’t get it.” Said Danny looking up at his teacher. “There are only two wrong answers how can that be an F?”

Sighing Mr Lancer leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. “It’s an F because you didn’t write this.” Explained Lancer.

Danny’s brow furrowed and then he shrugged as if it wasn’t that important. “Yeah I know that, so what’s the problem?”

Lancer found himself wondering if the boy was just playing stupid or if he really didn’t see what was wrong with having another student do his work for him. “Daniel you haven’t done the homework, I can’t give you a grade if you are cheating, I thought you were past that.”

The boy started laughing. “This isn’t funny Mr Fenton I am serious. This work was clearly done by Mr Baxter and Foley, they have a different handwriting compared to yours.” For some reason that only made Danny laugh even harder.

Once he collected himself enough to speak again Danny smiled at Lancer. “Of course it’s their handwriting sir, they were the ones writing for me.”

Looking at the teen still a bit confused Mr Lancer leaned forwards a bit. “Why couldn’t you write it on your own? You are aware that we would see it as cheating if you asked someone else to do the work for you.”

Danny stared down on his teacher with those calculating blue eyes and Lancer suddenly found himself staring at someone else than the young insecure teenager who would skip out on his classes. He had seen this version of Danny a couple of times the last week, something had changed in the boy after he came back from jail. Lancer couldn’t quiet put his finger on what it was but something about how he acted around others was different.

Taking his left hand out of his pocket Danny picked up the pen on Lancer’s desk and wrote his name on the homework sheets. He put down the pen and turned the papers for Lancer to read. It was hardly readable, the normally neat and slightly slanted letters Lancer associated with Danny’s writing were now scruffy hieroglyphs far from the chicken scratches Danny did when taking notes. Staring at the hieroglyphs Lancer’s memories replayed how Danny had used his left hand to write. “Aren’t you right handed?” He asked looking up at the boy wondering what had made him change his hand.

Danny’s expression changed, he smiled but it didn’t reached his eyes and there was something sad and pained about the way he looked at Lancer, like he was trying to be happy but clearly wasn’t. “Guess you haven’t heard.” He said taking his right hand from his pocket and holding it up so Lancer could see the braise going from his wrist up the palm and back of his hand, stopping half way up his fingers.

“What happened?” asked Lancer feeling a lump settling in his stomach.

He shrugged putting his hand in his pocket again. “Fell down a stair.” He said and Lancer immediately knew it was a lie. How many times hadn’t he heard Danny use that same excuse to explain injuries. “Do you still think I am cheating?” asked Danny. “I mean after the C.A.T I wouldn’t even think of doing that.”

Looking down on the homework sheets Mr Lancer scratched the back of his head before picking up a black marker and writing a B+ on the English homework and C- on the Math, covering the red F from before. “I suggest that you tell me next time before handing in your homework so that there is no confusion alright.”

Danny gave Lancer a crocked smile that this time reached his eyes. “Sure thing. Can I go now, I don’t want to miss lunch.” Lancer nodded and the boy was out of his classroom in the blink of an eye.

Sitting in the empty room Lancer stared down at the hieroglyphs Danny had written, he could just about make out the boy’s name, but it was painful to read, as if he was trying to read a first grader’s handwriting. Thinking back Lancer couldn’t remember seeing Danny write anything during class and he was usually the one taking notes, when he wasn’t asleep.

He found himself wondering if Danny had gotten hurt in jail, after all Lancer was partly to blame for the boy being sent there to begin with. He could have told the police that Danny wasn’t the sort of kid who would beat someone else up, he wasn’t the one to pick fights or end them that was Dash. But in the moment Lancer had only seen the bleeding boy on the floor and Danny kneeling over him one hand on Dash’s chest the other one hitting the floor beside his head.

Lancer had reacted instinctively, shouting at his colleague to call for help before pulling Danny of Dash. He hadn’t been prepared for Danny to fight back let alone for him to act like an autistic child, screaming and wriggling, shouting profanities at Lancer and snarling curses. He had elbowed Lancer to the side hard enough to leave a bruise before he had started to calm down in time for the ambulance and police to arrive.

Thinking back on his actions Lancer could see that he hadn’t been impartial or acted much like a teacher to Danny. In fact he had been all too happy to help the police gather evidence that made it look like Danny had beaten Dash. He hadn’t thought to mention the strange relationship he had seen between the two boys during their detention or the fact that he hadn’t caught Dash bullying Danny the last three months. He should have told them both the good and the bad things about Danny, and not pointed him out as a troublemaker.

When the teachers got the news about Fenton being innocent and coming back to school Lancer had gotten a lump in the pit of his stomach that did not disappear however much he told himself that he had done nothing wrong, that he had acted in every ones best interests at the time. Now however, seeing Danny somehow different from before made him question his decisions. He should have been looking out for both kids not just one.

Taking his eyes of the hieroglyphs Lancer looked at the English homework that was done in Baxter’s handwriting, blocky and always neat. The two were still talking to each other, still being friendly even after what had happened. If Dash could believe in Danny so could Lancer. After all what sort of teacher would he be if he didn’t believe in his students.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, a bit of an early update because I'm moving tomorrow and don't know when I'll have stable internet again. Anyhow, hope you enjoy this chapter and leave a comment if there's something you want to know.

A little over a week had gone by and Maddie hadn’t gotten one word from Danny. Sure the boy was happy to talk to his father, they spent a lot of time down in the basement together working on the Spector-Speeder where Danny to Maddie’s surprise was not just handing Jack tool’s but also coming up with ideas of his own, showing an understanding for engineering which she had never seen before. But he wasn’t talking to her.

She could be in the same room as him, telling him to do things or just asking him how he was doing and he wouldn’t as much as recognize her presence. Jack had to repeat everything she was saying for Danny to respond and when he did it was usually with a joke. Why had she seen his phone send a signal from atop a building in central Amity Park? “I flew up there to enjoy the view, should have seen the sunset.” Why was his teachers calling her to say that he was skipping classes again? “Guess because they don’t see me siting right in front of them.” And so on.

That wasn’t the only thing that annoyed Maddie. She had checked on him in the middle of the night and he was never in his bed. When she asked him where he was he had answered, “Sleeping where else.” She had tried to ping his phone during the nights but he had left it in his room.

Maddie had taken up watching him where ever he went. Because they couldn’t trust him to be in his room they had removed his door so that she could hear him in there and see him whenever she walked up. Jack had been against it but Maddie thought of it as a necessity. But somehow Danny still snuck out during the nights, she had been watching the front door but he had snuck out through his window or probably the back door, so she had watched them as well. And yet he still got out and didn’t return before seven in the morning, when Maddie heard him start the shower and do his normal morning routine.

She could tell that Danny was hanging out with his friends, he still carried his phone around on him during the days and when she took the car out to see where he was she usually found them hanging out at the Nasty Burger. Jack told her that she was starting to act like a control freak but she knew she wasn’t. She was just concerned for her son and wanted to know where he snuck out to during the night.

But he always came home for dinner, and although he didn’t like them he was taking his medicine and taking care of himself. So when he didn’t come home for dinner and didn’t text her to say where he was Maddie got worried. She texted him multiple times, tried to find him through the tracking software she’d installed on his phone, which turned up with noting, and eventually she texted his friends who told her that they hadn’t seen him since the end of school.

When the phone rang Maddie picked it up and was about to say Danny’s name when she saw the caller ID. It was Laura Baxter calling. Taking a deep breath to calm herself Maddie picked up. “Hallo Fenton Works.”

“Hi Maddie just the person I wanted to talk to.” Said Laura. Maddie could hear the sound of cocking in the background. “Just wanted to tell you that Danny is here watching the game with Dash, it’s going to be a late one so I told him he could stay the night just wanted to check with you so that it was alright.”

Feeling her anxiety die down a bit Maddie relaxed. “I see, Why didn’t he call to tell me himself?” she asked knowing that he still didn’t talk to her but he could talk to Jack and he hadn’t heard anything from Danny.

Laura laughed a little. “His phone is out of power and we are an iPhone household, I said that I call you. Is everything alright you haven’t been looking for him have you?”

Sighing Maddie shook her head. “No just wish he would have told me he was going over to your place. How is Dash?” She should have known Danny would meet up with Dash sooner or later, the two would do their homework together.

“Up and running, if Danny didn’t drop by with schoolwork every day I don’t know how he would stay still long enough for him to heal.” Sighed Laura and the sound of a tv momentarily drowned out the sound of the kitchen. “Dinner’s in five, who’s leading the game?” she said talking to the others in the room.

“0 for home team, but not for long.” Said Danny and Maddie’s heart made a skip hearing his voice.

Laura returned to the phone. “We’ll get Danny a ride home tomorrow, see you then?”

“Yes see you.” Said Maddie hanging up the phone. She sank in to one of the kitchen chairs pushing back her hair. His phone had just been out of power, he hadn’t meant to scare her, she had just gotten worked up over nothing.

Even if she knew Danny was safe Maddie couldn’t sleep, she lay awake like so many nights before listening to the sound of the house. Even Jack seemed to have a hard time falling asleep but in the end he was the one snoring to the hum of power running through the house.

Drifting in and out of sleep Maddie gave up on rest when the clock hit 7am. She walked over to Danny’s room and checked if he had come home knowing that he wouldn’t have but wishing he had. The bed was still made as if he hadn’t slept in it since he came home from the hospital.

Sighing Maddie walked in to the bathroom and showered. She had just gotten dressed when she heard a sound coming from Danny’s room. Zipping up her jumpsuit she walked over to his door and looked in. Danny was sitting cross-legged on his bed his right hand held palms up in front of him. Felling relived at seeing him Maddie was about to take a step in to his room and give him a piece of her mind for scaring her.

But she didn’t, she stayed watching him from the hall. Danny had his brow furrowed in concentration and his eyes narrowed, staring at his hand. Watching him Maddie saw the tips of his fingers twitch and his hand and arm started to shake as the fingers slowly bent. Sweat ran down Danny’s face and he suddenly jerked bending over his hand pressing it to his chest his face wrinkled up in pain.

Maddie didn’t enter the room she turned around and walked down the stairs, she could give Danny a piece of her mind later, she could tell him how much he made her worry when they were eating breakfast. Entering the kitchen Maddie pulled out the frying pan and set it on the burner starting it to get the pan hot as she got a pack of bacon from the fridge slapping the slices in to the pan.

Even if Danny refused to talk to her, he couldn’t refuse to hear her. He could try and ignore her but he would listen even if he didn’t want to. Maddie changed the filter in the coffee machine and filled it with water. She had never had this problem with Jazz, the girl had been smart and sometimes forgot her own age but she had always listened to her even when she thought she knew best.

Slamming the on button on the coffee brewer Maddie turned to the fridge. Danny wasn’t the sort of person who just disappeared, he wasn’t the sort of child who skipped out on school or let his grade go down. She took out a pack of milk and eggs. He was better than this, he was so much better, could do so much more. But all he did was throw his life away, and ignore her when all she did was trying to help him, to love him.

Putting the milk and eggs down on the kitchen counter Maddie turned around and hit the handle of the frying pan making it slide of the stove. She flung out a hand catching the pan instinctively. She was about to put it back on the stove when the burning heat of the pan hit her and she let go of it pressing her hands to her chest as the pan clattered to the floor spilling the bacon and oil all over it.

She was cursing and trying to clean up the mess when a pair of hands grabbed hers. Freezing Maddie stared at the thin hands the right one sporting a brace. Slowly she raised her eyes to stare at Danny, he wasn’t looking at her but he pulled at her lightly and she followed letting him put her hand under the tap running cold water over them.

Still staring at him Maddie watched as Danny picked up the pan and put it back on the stove turning off the flame. He cleaned up the bacon that had landed on the floor and threw it in the trash before taking out the first aid kit Maddie had stored over the fridge and placed it on the table. He then returned to Maddie, taking her hands and guiding her over to the kitchen table where he got her to sit down.

Letting him take off the rubber gloves Maddie never took her eyes of her boy. He moved confidently, like he knew what he was doing. The palms of Maddie’s hands were red and tight where she’d gotten burned. Gently Danny moved his fingers over the burns, his touch stung a bit but didn’t burn.

Opening the first aid kit he took out an ointment that Maddie hadn’t seen before and applied it to her burned hands. It was cold and somehow reduced the stinging sensation to something manageable. Once he’d applied it Danny wound bandages around her hands briskly tying it off with a practiced knot.

Finished treating her injuries he got up and turned to the stove where he cleaned off the pan, put it back on the burner and started the scrambled eggs. Maddie didn’t dare move in fear of breaking that moment. “Thank you.” She said her voice uncertain.

Danny stopped for a moment before continuing making breakfast. “Your welcome.” He said and maybe it was Maddie imagining it but he acted like she actually was in the room. Getting up from her seat Maddie set the table a comfortable normalcy to the act.

When Jack came down the breakfast was on the table and Danny was sitting down with his coffee. “Morning Mads.” He said kissing her on the cheek.

“Morning.” Agreed Maddie filling her own mug of coffee.

“Morning kid-o. How did the game end?” He asked ruffling Danny’s hair before sitting down and digging in on his scrambled eggs and bacon.

“Home team won, made a homerun at the end of the game that saved them from losing.” Answered Danny through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “Did you manage to fix the leaking fuel coupling for the Spector Speeders?”

Jack snapped his fingers. “That was what I was supposed to do.” They kept talking throughout breakfast, Jack acting like a blundering fool but his actions spoke more of his perception as he took Danny’s handicap in to consideration when he handed Danny things.

“So what are you planning on doing today?” Asked Jack as the two were cleaning up.

Danny shrugged handing Jack the things from the table. “Though I’d hang out with Sam and Tucker, they are releasing a new game this afternoon that we’ve been looking forwards to.”

“Why don’t you have them come over?” asked Maddie. Danny ignored her, handed the last of the plates to Jack before he turned away and walked out of the kitchen and up the stairs. Sinking down in her chair Maddie felt the tears burn her eyes. The moment when things had been as they should had ended and she was left feeling empty.

Jack gave her an apologetic look. “He’ll come around.” He said putting the last of the dishes in the dishwasher. “It’s just a phase.”

Maddie nodded and got up. “I promised Jazz I’d call.” She said walking down to the lab and the computer down there. She’d called Jazz earlier in the week and the week before telling her that Danny was home the first time and talking to her about Danny’s change in behavior the second time. Sitting down in front of the computer Maddie booted it up hoping Jazz would have some answers.

Calling Jazz up on the video chat Maddie wondered where she had gone wrong. The call symbol got replaced by the video feed showing Jazz sitting curled up in her computer chair, a book propped against her knees a pen behind her ear. “Hi mom what’s up?”

Smiling Maddie leaned back in her chair trying not to show how much she had on her mind. “Nothing much, just the usual. How’s school?”  Asking the standard question.

“Oh you know, the teachers are trying to put all of our exams before the spring break and what they can’t fit in before, they schedule for after the break. I’m up to my ears in prepping for the exams.” She took the pen from behind her ear and wrote something on a post it note that she pinned to the page she was reading.

“I hope you have time for socializing as well. You don’t want to stay coped up in your dorm and never make any friends. I remember how Jack used to bring me on dances even if we had exams the next day.” She sighed for a moment lost in her memories. “Those were some good times.”

Jazz smiled glancing up from her book. “I am, me and my roomy is going to a party on Friday after the exams. I can get back to study on Saturday and ace the exams after the break.” She looked down and wrote on another note. “How’s things at home?”

Biting her lip Maddie thought about her answer. Apparently she was taking too long because Jazz looked up her eyes narrowed. She was smart and perceptive, unnervingly so. “Mom.” Said Jazz drawing out the word.

“It’s Danny.” She said running her thumb over the bandages on her hands. “He still acting like I’m not in the room. I don’t know what to do, yesterday I couldn’t find him until Mrs Baxter called and told me he was at her house watching the game with Dash.” Her fingers found a loose thread from the gauze and she started picking at it. “I don’t know what to do with him Jazz, he’s just so different, whatever happened to him in jail he knows he can talk to me about it.”

Sighing Jazz returned to her book. “The way Danny is acting has nothing to do with Jail mom, you should have figured that out.” She said flipping to the next page.

“What do you mean, did you talk to Danny.” Maddie was a bit jealous of the way Danny would always confide in Jazz and not her.

“Uh hu. Called him last Wednesday after we talked.” She scribbled at another note before glancing up at Maddie. “Nothing that happened to him in Jail comes close to what happened to him on the outside.” Maddie stared at her not understanding what Jazz was getting at.

“You mean when he was arrested?” she asked remembering the defeated look he'd had when she saw him in the interrogation room down at the police station.

“No I am talking about the time you took away all the control he had over his life.” Sighed Jazz frustrated getting a confused look from Maddie.

“That wasn’t me, the agents sent him to jail, why is he angry at me for that?” Maddie asked spinning the thread around her index finger.

“That is not the moment I’m talking about.” Said Jazz putting down her book and sitting up straighter. “Back when he got arrested Danny still had options, he could decide to fight the police or sit still. He decided to stay put. He could have spoken to the officer but decided not to, he could have said no to the agents job offer but he took it. He had control over what was happening to him and that was part of the reason he didn’t break down in jail, he had a purpose for being there.” Maddie nodded and Jazz continued. “So when he was out and in the hospital, a place he dislikes because it takes a lot of his control away from him. You were supposed to be there for him and make sure he felt safe.”

Again Maddie nodded. She remembered seeing Danny sitting on a hospital bed a doctor examining his injured right hand, Dr Andrews beside him. “I was there for him. I stood by him every steep I could.” He had seen her and given her that sheepish smile as if she'd caught him with his hand in the cookie jar.

“Physically yes but not emotionally.” Jazz ran a hand through her hair. “You listened to the doctors, you even heard Vlad’s opinion but when Danny tried to make his voice heard you waved him off, you were to caught up with what the adults were saying that you ignored what Danny wanted.”  Maddie felt a lump form in her throat. “You might have done what was best for Danny but you hurt him emotionally when you didn’t listen to him.”

“I did listen to him.” Said Maddie trying to remember what Danny had said. She recalled him raising his voice to ask “What if I don’t what this.” And she had found the question adorably naïve. “What would be the consequences if he don’t have the surgery?” She had asked so that he could hear from the doctor what would happen if he didn’t go through with it.

“But you didn’t, not in Danny’s eyes.” Said Jazz looking down on her book. “Mom, Danny is in a way returning the favor. He wants you to feel what he felt and he wants you to understand him. He is still just a teenager and has to feel that he is in control of his life when there is so much that’s being demanded of him and taking his choices away from him. The last person who should do that is you mom. He loves you.”

Lowering her eyes to stare at her bandaged hands Maddie thought about that morning. Danny didn’t have to help her, he didn’t have to treat her wounds or show her kindness. Yet he had, he’d been gentle and kind, like the boy she knew. “I need to speak with him.” She said getting an agreeing hum from Jazz.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally these two first chapters were supposed to be short stories but I decided to make it part of this story.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi my dear readers! I still don't have any kind of stable internet at my new home, (have to stand in the garden to check my email) so I am posting a bit early again ^^ this is the chapter for next week, don't read it to fast I don't know when I'll be able to update again. ^^.  
> This chapter has a few trigger warnings, they talk a bit about the time Danny was considering suicide so if you don’t want to read about that I suggest you jump this chapter.

The car stopped and Danny removed the seatbelt. “I’ll see you at home later?” asked Dash, watching Danny fish his backpack out from the backseat.

“Sure.” Danny wriggled around opening the door with his left hand. “I need your help finishing that history essay anyways. Can’t bloody type fast enough on a computer to hand it in on time.”

Dash let out a short laugh. “Wish I had that excuse, the teachers aren’t letting up on the workload they are sending me.” Danny sent him a grin. “Besides I get to read your work, helps my grades more than your normal help.”

Letting out a huff Danny got out of the car. “Consider it payment for helping me. See you in an hour.” He closed the door and walked up the short stairs to the front doors of Grace Road Psych Hospital. He wouldn’t have asked Dash for a ride to this place if the jock hadn’t been his friend and offered.

He heard the roar of the sports cars engine as Dash drove away. He had been different since coming back to school. Before Dash had ignored Danny in school and turned a blind eye to the others bullying him. These days Dash wasn’t afraid to be seen talking to Danny and would make fun of the bullies when they were picking on him. He offered Danny a ride whenever they planned to meet up for homework seeing as he couldn’t participate in his normal football practice after school.

Hanging out with Dash often meant that Sam and Tucker would hang out with them as well and considering that they hadn’t gotten to know Dash like Danny did they were actually pretty chill about it, just not very social. Going through the front doors Danny headed for the receptionist. Sam was reserved towards Dash, glaring at him but never patronizing when Dash asked for Danny’s help. Tucker on the other hand often got on Dash nerves and he often left before their work was finished.

The elevator door opened and Gideon stepped out. “Danny, perfect timing.” Danny stopped before he could reach the receptionist and turned to the psychiatrist. “Come on we’re going up.” He said waving Danny in to the elevator.

Heaving his backpack more comfortably on to his shoulder Danny stepped in to the elevator. “Sup?” He asked.

Gideon shrugged. “Same as last week, mountain of paperwork and not nearly enough coffee.” They exchanged a look. “How’s school going?” he asked and the elevator kept going up past the second floor where Gideon’s office was.

“As crappy as always. Where are we going?” Danny had a growing suspicion but did his best to keep his imagination from leaping to conclusions, this was after all the last time he had to talk to Gideon.

“The roof, thought we change up the scenery a bit.” Said Gideon shifting from one foot to the other.

“A stone box with locked doors, bared windows and a cliff face outside wasn’t enough of a scenery change?” He asked the corner of his mouth turning up.

“You want to talk about that?” Gideon gave him a sidelong glance, he had asked the same question the week before and Danny hadn’t answered. It wasn’t that the stay in jail had been bad, annoying yes, embarrassing and confiding yes, the only bad part had been the end of his stay. When he destroyed an ally and a friend of his mentor.

The elevator stopped and the two walked out on to the roof. The light breeze blew Danny’s hair out of his face and he stopped lifting his head up closing his eyes, enjoying the breeze. He breathed in the air, wishing he had flown to the meeting instead of accepting the ride from Dash, he missed being alone. His friends would always find an excuse to be around him, Valeri didn’t even let him patrol alone. And his parents would always be around him at home, one of the reasons he avoided going home.

Sighing he opened his eyes and saw Gideon staring at him. “What were you thinking?” He asked. Shrugging Danny dumped his backpack beside the door and walked over to the low rooftop wall.

“Nothing, just enjoying the fresh air.” Gideon walked up and leaned on the wall beside Danny. “Why did you want us to go up here?” He asked, leaning over the wall his arms crossed.

“This is the first place I heard you tell something personally about yourself. Thought it could be a good place for our last meeting.” Gideon turned to look at Danny. “Remember what you told the kid that day?” Danny nodded. “Tell me about it.”

Biting his lower lip Danny thought back on what he had said and how much it had come back to haunt him lately. “If I tell you will you force me to come back here again? I mean having more sessions with you.” He asked, he had an odd feeling in his stomach about this.

Gideon shook his head. “No no matter what you say I won’t force you to come back here.” Danny narrowed his eyes on Gideon. “Cross my heart. This is our last session. Unless you want to talk to me again.”

Nodding Danny turned to stare at the building opposite. He stayed quiet thinking over the darkest part of his past that hadn’t been that long ago. “I haven’t told anyone about that time. My sister found out but no one else knows.”

Swallowing his mouth suddenly dry Danny continued. “My life isn’t that much different today compared to what it was a year ago. Back then I was still bullied, had to protect everyone I loved, got no thanks.” He was quiet for a moment trying to figure out where to begin.

“I was failing in school, my grades were six feet under, I couldn’t stay awake long enough in class to hear anything. Whenever I was in class that is. I couldn’t go a meter in the school corridors without bumping in to a bully, they were always creative with their different ways of beating me, slamming me in to lockers, shoving me in to them, wedgies and getting my head flushed in the toilet was a daily thing. The football team tied me to the goalpost one time and used me for target practice till they got bored and then they left.” He rubbed his thumb over the brace on his right hand. “Mom and dad gave me a hard time because of my report cards, in the end I avoided home, I didn’t sleep there anyways, didn’t have the time.” The uncomfortable fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach made him feel sick.

“My friends would still hang out with me but, the finals were coming up and neither of us wanted to have to go through summer school. They had too much on their own plates and still found time to be with me.” He scraped his nails along the brace. “That was when I didn’t have other more important things to do, they stopped tagging along in favor of studying or taking a break. I don’t blame them, I would have done the same.” He took a deep breath that shook, his mouth was dry by this point. “Instead of avoiding fights I started them. I stopped joking around, got hit and beat up till I was either unconscious or trapped. Then I gave back. I didn’t stop until my own fists were bruised and bleeding and my arms were too tired to swing another blow.”

Rubbing his arms Danny shivered, the cold breeze was not as gentle and friendly any more. “I don’t know when I started thinking that everyone would be better off without me. That the world wouldn’t even notice when I… died… Getting in to fights and pushing myself was the only way I could feel alive. I drew back from everyone, ditched class for real, stopped eating and went looking for trouble.” It sounded stupid but at the time it had been logical.

“To be honest, back then I couldn’t see the big picture or any bright future. I thought it was just as well to kick the bucket and be done with it.” He shivered at the thought. “But Jazz saw me hurting. She was ace-ing her finals and still saw me. She stopped me from going down to our parents lab and finish it once and for all. She was the one who told me that I would be hurting the people I love if I went through with it.” His eyes were burning by now. “We talked. Mom and dad wasn’t around that day so we could speak undisturbed. Mostly it was me shouting and crying. I was selfish, wanted everything to be like it was before, but I knew it never could. Jazz helped me fix things. Make them easier for me, got our parents of my back and stayed with me all throughout summer-school when I pulled my grades out of the ditch they were in.” He fell quiet wondering if Gideon wanted more details. Details he wasn’t prepared to give him.

The silence drew out until Gideon spoke. “Last time you were here you said that you had been standing on the edge about to jump. But that wasn’t how you were going to do it, was it?”

Sighing Danny looked up at the man. “I had to be creative in how I ended it. Wasn’t like I could die in a fight, or by jumping off a building. Couldn’t even starve. I was going to use one of mom and dad’s invention to do it but as I said Jazz figured me out before I got there.”

They were quiet for a bit longer, Danny rubbing his arms trying to keep the chill out of his body, he should have worn a jacket. “Has anything changed?” Asked Gideon after a while.

Danny shrugged. “Physically no, but the way I look at things has. I don’t just see the bad and horrible things in the world anymore. I can see the good and the light. The things worth living for-“ He chewed on his lip. “I still get bullied but by taking the beating instead of someone else I know they won’t have to go through hell. At least that’s what I tell myself. I know what I am doing is good and right and whatever anyone else say’s about me is wrong. They got to be, why else would I still be here.” He sighed. “I must sound crazy, having tried to kill myself and stopped just because I could take others beatings.”

“To be honest Danny. I’ve gotten to know you these last few months and I don’t think you are crazy. I think you are human.” Danny shivered at the term. Human, could he even consider himself a monster like that or was he their monsters.

“Bet you’ve heard my story before.” He said rubbing at his eyes, drying the tears.

“I’ve heard similar. Mostly I deal with teenagers who is still in the down low and are just starting to climb up. But you’ve already climbed out of your hell. From what I can tell you truly believe that life is worth living.” He put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Thanks for telling me.” He said giving Danny a warm smile.

Feeling a bit embarrassed Danny shrugged off his hand. “Sure, still not coming back.”

Gideon laughed, “You don’t have to. So how is school now that you are back?”

Danny shrugged poking the tips of his fingers. He couldn’t quiet feel his nails poking the skin “People are talking behind my back, calling me freak and spreading the rumor that I’m some dangerous delinquent. On the plus side people gives me some space, my bullies thinks twice before picking on me or anyone in my vicinity. Sure the verbal bullying isn’t fun but I don’t listen to them.”

“How are your friends taking things?” Asked Gideon getting a questioning look from Danny. “You were accused of beating up a fellow student, normally friends act a bit wearied trying to figure out how to treat things.”

“They knew I was innocent so they don’t act any different.” He smiled, his friends were the same as always and he wouldn’t change them for the world.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glad Midsummer everyone, Here's another chapter ahead of time. I still have no Internet at home and don't know when I'll get it so until then there will be a lot of early updates and maybe some missed.

The elbow hit Sam in the side waking her with a start. Danny was tossing and turning beside her. It was nothing unusual, he would still get nightmares even if he told her that he was getting less of them when she was sleeping next to him.

Carefully so as not to accidentally touch his right hand, she put her arms around him. He jerked and stiffen. “Wake up Danny, You are dreaming again.” Whispered Sam in his ear. His muscle were tight under his sweat drenched t-shirt.

Feeling his breath catch as he breathed in, Sam knew he was awake. Letting go she dug her phone out from underneath the pillow and checked the time. 6:57 her alarm would go off in three minutes.

Sitting up she stretched her arms and back. “You better get up, I’ll fix breakfast for us.” She yawned and swung her feet’s over the side of the thin bed. They’d been sleeping in Danny’s bed that night, after her mom had started getting suspicious to Sam’s new morning routine, where she get up an hour earlier than she had to in order for her to get a morning run in before breakfast. She didn’t mention that she was running with Danny who had been the one taking up the habit as he got from her place to his.

Danny mumbled something and rolled over on to his back as Sam got up. “You have to speak a bit louder. I don’t speak sleep.” She teased fishing out a skirt and tights from her backpack.

“Said that I hate school in the morning.” He sighed and Sam could feel his eyes on her back as she got dressed.

“At least you don’t have to be in gym-class today as the rest of us. You still got that doctors note.” Said Sam pulling on a sports-bra without taking off the t-shirt she’d borrowed from Danny. “Or have you gotten used to the idea of a morning run?” She pulled the shirt off and tugged on a tank top.

“No, but I could get used to watching you.” He yawned and Sam turned around getting a crocked smile from Danny. She smiled and bent over him giving Danny a quick kiss before straightening and getting up. “Could definitely get used to that.” He mused and Sam’s alarm went off.

“You better hit the shower, I’m going to raid the fridge for something eatable and vegan.” She said turning off the alarm and putting on her tights and skirt.

Danny rolled out of bed and put his arms around Sam’s waist. “Don’t forget the coffee.” He whispered kissing her neck before letting go of her. Taking a bath towel from where he’d thrown it on the end of the bed he walked out of the room.

Sam’s cheeks were suddenly hot. She rubbed at her face and picking up her backpack she headed down the stairs. Walking past the bathroom door Sam hear the shower turn on. There was no one down stairs when she walked in to the kitchen. Opening the fridge she found what looked like a mix of a lab experiments and a normal things she expected to find in a household fridge with a tupoware containing ecto-weeners marking where the two parts mixed. Had they been at her place she would have gone through her greenhouse and gotten fruits and greens for them but she had to work with what she got.

She managed to dig out some eatable food, making avocado toast for Danny, and fruits for herself. The coffee brewer was almost finished when she heard someone come down the stairs. She was putting the toasts on a plate when she heard a shock intake of air. “Sam, What are you doing here?” asked Mrs Fenton.

Putting the plate on the table Sam used it as an excuse to think over how she should react. Danny was angry with his mom because she didn’t listen to him, but Sam understood what Maddie had been thinking when she did it. So maybe just act normal to her would be the way to go. “Making breakfast. Hope you don’t mind Danny’s not eating properly. Well he’s eating junk food mostly so.” She nodded to the toasts. “I’m making it my mission to give him some healthy alternative.” Thinking about it Sam was actually making it her mission to get him to eat healthier.

Maddie blinked. “When did you get here?” she asked walking over to the fridge. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Last night.” Shrugged Sam taking out a mug from the cupboard and filling it with water.

Taking out a couple of eggs and milk Maddie turned to the stove. “You stayed the night? Why didn’t you tell me I would have stocked some more greens in the fridge.” She put a pan on the stove starting it.

“It’s alright, I brought my own breakfast.” She put the mug in the microwave heating the water for tea. She heard the stairs creek from out in the living room.

“So why are you here?” asked Maddie mixing the eggs with milk before pouring the mix in to the pan. The smell of the eggs frying filled the kitchen.

The microwave pinged and Sam took out the mug. “Avoiding my parents.” She said dumping a teabag in the mug putting it on the table.

“Hey Sam give me a hand with this.” Called Danny from the living room. Sam saw Maddie jump and stare at the doorway as Danny walked in. He was wear jeans and a hoodie, the right arm rolled up to his elbow. The brace he normally wore on his right hand was in his left. Sam saw his eyes flick over to his mom and then go past her.

“What do you need help with?” Asked Sam walking over to him.

Danny held up the brace and his right hand. “I can’t get this on.” He said letting Sam take the brace from him. He looked over at the table. “What’s for breakfast.” He asked sniffing the air.

“Avocado toast and coffee.” She carefully threaded his fingers through the fingers of the brace. His hand had jagged red scars that were broken off by the fine straight lines from his surgery, there was a slight tremor in his hand and he jerked every time she made him move his fingers. She could hear Maddie behind her stay very quiet and very still. “Does it hurt?” asked Sam when she had gotten his fingers in place.

Shrugging Danny tugged at the straps while Sam held the brace still. “A bit, mostly when I move my fingers, or try and move them.” Sam watched as Danny bent his fingers just a little bit before he yelped and relaxed his hand again. He’d closed his eyes and was breathing slowly. Turning her face towards Maddie Sam gave her a glare but the woman was wearing a similar expression to Danny’s. Of course the woman was hurting because Danny was but she couldn’t admit that it was her fault.

Tightening the last strap Sam placed a soft kiss on Danny’s cheek getting him to open his eyes and stare at her, his face growing read. “You want your breakfast or should I leave it for your dad to eat?” she asked pulling Danny towards the kitchen table. The loud thunderous steeps of Jack Fenton coming down the stair echoed throughout the house. “Speak of the devil.” Sighed Sam sitting down beside Danny.

“Mads, get your gear, we got ecto-activity at the water park!” Shouted Jack running in to the kitchen. “Morning Danny, Morning Sam.” Greeted the man hurriedly getting a mug from the cupboard filling it with coffee.

“Um yes…” Said Maddie sounding a bit distracted. She turned off the stove and pushed the pan over to another burner. “Don’t forget to take your medicine Sweetie.” She said to Danny who completely ignored her as she and Jack ran past him grabbing whatever gear they could on their way out. Which was surprisingly enough to fill their arms.

When the door slammed close Danny let out a sigh his shoulders relaxing. “You alright?” asked Sam biting in on her fruits. Danny picked up one of the toasts and bit in to it before getting himself a mug of coffee.

“You know I am.” He sat down beside her. “This is good.” He devoured the toasts as fast as he would devour Nasty burgers when he was starving. “Hey mind getting the stupid medicine bottles from the top cupboard.”

“Sure.” Sam got up and walked over to the cupboard Danny had nodded to taking out the bottles with his names on, there were a surprising amount of them. Putting the bottles on the table for Danny she sat back down. She watched as he picked up the bottles one by one and sorted them until he had two that he fiddled around with the lid on. Sam didn’t think about it until he sighed and put them both down and shoved them to the side continuing on his food.

That was when it hit her that the bottles were child proof and you needed two hands to open them. “Here.” She said taking the bottles opening them for him. “Sorry I didn’t think.” She murmured handing him the open bottles.

“It’s fine.” He sighed taking one pill of each bottle and swallowing them with coffee. “It’s just annoying that I can’t do something as simple as this without help.” Sam could understand him. She herself was working hard on getting independent from her parents, for Danny it must have been like taking a step backwards when he no longer could use his main hand and had to rely on his friends and parents for help, especially his mother since they weren’t talking any more.

“So why aren’t you taking those pills?” she asked nodding to the bottles he had put to the side there was at least five of them.

Danny shrugged. “I only need these two, the others makes me…” He shrugged. “Not me.” Sipping his coffee Sam gave him a look getting a sigh from him. “This is the muscle relaxant and that is antibiotics. The rest is Painkillers in one way or another and I don’t need that.” He lifted his right hand and small ice crystals formed on his fingertips.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still updating ahead of schedual, turns out it's harder to get internet in my new home than expected so I have to drive to my mom or grandma's place in order to update. (And I don't even own a car)

“You can’t be serious! I have a note!” Said Danny his breath was blooming in the cold morning air. Tetslaff had told the class that they would be having gym-class outdoors that morning so they had all gathered around the bleachers closest to the gym building.

“I can and I am. Your legs aren’t injured so you can participate today. The same goes for everyone else who thought some sniffles were going to get them out of class!” She glared at the students who hadn’t changed, never bothering to lower her voice when speaking to her students. The one she was looking at were all warm in their winter jackets were as the rest of the class who’d changed in to shorts and t-shirt thinking they were going to still be inside were all shivering.

“We are doing orientation today. I don’t have to explain how it works you all should know by now. However instead of stamping a piece of paper to show that you’ve stopped at a station you can take a selfie of yourself and the station to show me when you return. You have an hour and a half to get around the forest. Be back before your next class I don’t want to go looking for you.” There was a unanimous groan coming from the class. They had done orientation so many times by now that most of them could run the track in their sleep. “Start off with a warmup lap around the field.” She shouted and blew her whistle.

The class got grumpily up from the bleachers and started jogging around the track. Danny joined Tucker in the back letting the sprinters like Sam and the sports nerds take the lead. “I hate this.” Huffed Tucker keeping up to Danny’s slow jog. “When am I ever going to run around without my phone, it got GPS!”

“You never know when the GPS stops working.” Said Danny. “Personally I prefer the stars to a GPS any day.” He said having learned to orient by the stars, the sun, moon and an old watch.

“You and your stars. What happens when you can’t see them?” They were half way around the track and Danny was starting to sweat, but unlike before he got his powers he wasn’t as winded as Tucker.

“I fly above the clouds.” Said Danny. Tucker stuck out his tongue at Danny and they ran the rest of the track in silence. Once they had run a lap Tetslaff handed out maps and compasses to everyone. Half the class ran back in to the changing-rooms getting hoodies or jackets. Danny was the only one to remove his hoodie.

“Thank you.” Said Sam taking his hoodie and putting it on. “See you at English.” She said before running off with her map.

“Why aren’t you running after her?” Asked Dash walking over to Danny. He held two maps in his hands and handed one to Danny. “I thought she was your girlfriend.” Teased the jock in the same way as when he made fun of Danny and Sam.

“She is, I simply can’t keep up with her.” Answered Danny watching Tucker run across the grass having been one of those who ran back for a jacket.

“Wait! What did you say!?” Asked Dash staring at Danny who shrugged. He had probably fried Dash’s brain by agreeing that he and Sam were a thing. After all Dash was use to him blushing and denying that they were anything but friends.

“Said I can’t keep up with her. Had she wore her boots then maybe, she puts weights in them. But I doubt even you could keep up with her.” He smirked at Dash who recovered a bit from his shock.

“Yeah keep dreaming. Once I’ve recovered we’ll see who’s the fastest.” Dash elbowed Danny in the side. “So are the two of you a thing now, cus I just want to say I called it. You two freaks were made for each other.”

Danny’s eyes flashed green with anger at the word Freak. He hated it when Dash called him that even if he didn’t mean anything by it the word still hurt. “Shall we get going Danny? We wouldn’t want to be late for our next class.” Said Tucker having gotten a map from Tetslaff.

“Sorry Geek, we’ve got different maps.” Said Dash holding up his own. It was an exact copy of the one Danny was holding. Looking down on his Tucker made a face. The route on his map was twice as long as the one on Danny’s. Tucker would have to walk very fast or jog part of the way in order to be back by the time English started.

Danny wasn’t sure if he wanted to go with Dash or if he would screw the easier rout and hang out with Tucker instead. His friend looked betrayed at the thought of Danny hanging out with Dash, he was after all spending a lot of his free time with the jock these days.

Sighing Danny turned to Dash. It was clear what he had to do. “Sorry man but someone needs to point out where to go when Tucker’s GPS isn’t working.” He handed Dash the map back and took the one Tucker was holding walking off in the direction of the first station.

“Hey you don’t have to man. I can get around on my own.” Said Tucker hurrying to keep up with Danny’s fast pace. “I know you and Dash are friends now. Even if it sounds a bit weird for you to be friends with your tormentor.” Tucker made air quotations every time he said Friends.

Danny snickered. “Yeah Dash is a friend.” He did the air quotations as well. “But he’s still an ass and we don’t really have the same interests as you and I do.”

Tilting his head to the side and breathing heavier because of the fast pace Danny was keeping Tucker raised an eyebrow asking Danny why he hung out with Dash if they didn’t share any interests.

Rolling his eyes Danny glanced down at the map making sure they were going the right way. “I don’t know. He helps me with schoolwork in exchange for me helping him, more than that I don’t know. I guess the rest of the football team and A-listers aren’t really people he would consider friends either. They don’t know him like I do.”

“You want to clarify that or am I going to take it the wrong way.” Huffed Tucker giving Danny a wide grin.

“No. Dash has his reasons for being an ass, and I can relate to them. Trust me I got enough information on Dash now to fuck up his reputation and he knows it. That’s probably why he’s acting all friendly towards me and you when I’m around.” Said Danny but he knew there was more to their relationship, especially after what happened weeks earlier.

“Okay not going to pry anymore.” Said Tucker and Danny was grateful. “Change of subject. Are you up for the new Star Wars movie next week, I can count on it being just you, me, Sam and Valeri?” he grinned wider as they got to the first stop. “It’ll be a double date.”

Danny felt his face turn red. He was prepared to go along with accusations of them being a couple, people had been doing that for years. But to actually say that they were dating was something he hadn’t considered yet. “Sure-“ Tucker saw his discomfort and took the liberty to document his expression as part of the orientation. “Hey!” Protested Danny launching for the phone.

Tucker jumped out of the way and had to run to keep Danny from getting the phone. “This one is going in the year book.” Said Tucker swiping his fingers over the screen uploading the photo to a could.

Danny was slightly faster than Tucker and in much better shaper, catching up to his friend within ten yards. He tackled Tucker to the soft ground and both scrambled for the phone. Danny’s right hand fingers scratched the surface of the phone but he couldn’t close his fingers around it and ended up dropping the phone on the ground where Tucker got it back. “You should be glad that tackle didn’t break my arm again or I could be posting all the embarrassing photos I have of you on Facebook.” Huffed Tucker making sure his phone was alright.

“Heh! Be glad my arm is broken or I would be deleting said photos right now.” Retorted Danny getting up of the ground massaging his arm that was aching from the effort of trying to move the fingers. “At least I got you-“ A shiver that had nothing to do with the weather went up Danny’s spine and he saw his breath thicker on the air as he breathed out.

It didn’t take Tucker long to figure out the signs, he had seen Danny shiver and get the same look on his face before. “Your ghost sense?” he asked but it was more of a statement than a question.

“Yeah, probably the Box-ghost. You don’t mind if I go and kick him back in to the ghost-zone do you?” Asked Danny looking around making sure no one saw him change in to his ghost form.

“Say hi to him from me.” Smiled Tucker as Danny flew off. He picked up his phone and sent a text to Sam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun fact, this was supposed to be just a shorter chapter with a moment but as always the story got a life of its own and it ended up becoming the beginning to this story’s main drama. Also I’ve been writing this on my phone because I can concentrate on it better that way but I want to get back in to writing on my computer again, it has a better feel to it.


	6. Chapter 6

Letting his core guide him to where the ghost that he’d sensed was Danny found them monkeying around the forest terrorizing the girls in Danny’s gym class. “Hey butt face!” He shouted getting the monkeys to turn around to face him. He blasted the first one in the face. The monkey-ghost slammed in to a tree getting the rest of them to scatter. “Alright hide and seek it is then.” Grinned Danny flying after the monkeys hearing the girls cheer him on as he flew past.

Playing hide and seek with ghost would have been a lot harder if they had actually hid instead of going after the rest of Danny’s classmates. Danny got a bit annoyed as the only once they were after were the girls, but it also meant he got to save Paulina and Star which always was good for moral. And the two last monkeys tried to go after Sam who whipped out the wooden hairpin she had taken up wearing and stabbed on of the attacking ghosts making it let out a shriek before it and the other put their tails between their legs and ran for it.

“That was interesting.” Noted Sam putting the hairpin back in her hair. She glanced up at Danny who hovered beside her, his mouth open as he gaped at her. “Dose it really hurt that much?” She asked closing his mouth for him.

Shaking his head Danny stopped staring at her. “Like a son of a bitch but not that bad.” He answered flying after the ghosts.

He had almost caught up with the last two monkeys when a sound like a cannon being fired echoed through the forest and the hairs on the back of Danny’s neck stood on end. Twisting around Danny saw something come flying at him before it exploded blinding him with a flair of bright white light. Instinctively Danny descended and thin wires wrapped around him.

His arms and legs tangled in the wires as he rubbed his eyes getting a quick look of the ghost-prof net before electricity started running through it. He screamed as the current coursed through his body setting his nerves on fire. At some point Danny lost control over his fly and found himself dropping out of the sky, crashing in to branches before the ground slammed the last of the air out of his lungs.

At some point the net stopped electrocuting him leaving Danny panting and twitching on the ground. He wanted to just lay there in the dim light of the forest and not move for the rest of his life, but a thought kept nagging at the back of his mind making him take a closer look at the net. It was made out of a treated wire that could capture a ghost and work as a makeshift high wire when needed. At every point where the wires crossed there was a small green glowing bed framed in metal and Danny suddenly knew in what kind of net he’d been caught.

A charging sound was the only warning he got before electricity coursed through the net once more, drawing out a prolonged scream from him. When it stopped Danny forced himself to move. The net was his father’s design and would deliver one huge charge of electricity when catching the ghost to hopefully knock it out, and then it would recharge every minute electrocuting its catch until someone turned it of via remote.

Getting his right hand through one of the openings Danny gripped the other end of the opening with his left hand and started pulling. The net’s weak points were the joints, which was why his mom had reinforced them. He concentrated on pulling at the net, enhancing his own strength with his powers. His right hand was starting to cramp when the next charge hit Danny.

The horrible feeling of power coursing through him reminded Danny of the time he’d died and how he thought he was going to die before his world was turned inside and out and he found himself with ghost powers that let him survive. Once the electrocution stopped Danny was in more pain than he could ever imagine but he had to get free, if his parents found him they would stop at nothing in order to dissect and study him.

Taking a deep breath Danny started pulling at the net again this time he was slightly panicking as he did it and didn’t have the full control of his powers as he should, resulting in his ice-powers leaking in to his normal ghost-powers and the net suddenly froze over. Swallowing Danny had an idea and let out the ice inside of him before pulling hard at the net.

It wasn’t as elegant as the time he froze a steel door and Skulker blasted it into little bits, but it had the same outcome. The net splintered letting Danny get out before another electric charge could fry him completely.

Getting up Danny’s right arm was cramping and hurting as if he had broken it again. He tried to take slow calming breaths but twitched and jerked at uneven intervals. Swallowing Danny took to the air and flew straight for home. He didn’t know why, he just knew that his hand was killing him and he wanted to be somewhere quiet and alone.

The cool morning air cleared Danny’s head and instead of working on instincts he began thinking. His mom and dad must have been out in the forest hunting the monkeys, there was no one else who used their inventions, although the GIW were known for buying his parents inventions and blue prints, them being the only other ghost-hunters with the need for weapons that would possibly injure innocent bystanders.

The more he thought about it the more Danny was convinced that the GIW must have been the once shooting at him. They would use other ghosts as bait to lure Phantom in to a trap. They didn’t have anything against torturing a ghost making it scream till its voice broke. Hell they were by the same mind as his parents, thinking that hearing a ghost scream meant that the machine was working.

Danny reached home and phased through the roof to land in the kitchen where he turned back to his human form. As he did his right hand really started hurting and he stumbled, grabbed on to the table and sank down to the floor where he bent over his hand pressing it to his chest and forcing himself to breath. He reached for the ice in is core making it flow out in to his right hand dulling the pain.

It helped but he was still shaking and his muscles were cramping and jerking. Danny didn’t know for how long he sat on the kitchen floor he only knew that at some point he was able to move more or less without twitching. Climbing on to his feet’s Danny leaned against the sink. He turned on the tap and splashed water in to his face. He undid the straps on the brace and pulled it off putting the hand under the water. Had there been a mirror over the sink he was sure he would have seen his own pale face starring back at him.

Letting out a shaking breath Danny glanced up at the kitchen clock and cursed. He had twenty minutes to get back, make the photos for Tetslaff and be on time for Lancer’s class. Looking up at the medicine cupboard Danny sighed. He hated the medicine the doctors had prescribed for the pain and whatever anxiety disorder they thought he had. But right now he needed them, if only to act normal in school.

Drying his hands on a kitchen towel Danny opened the cupboard and didn’t care what sort of mess it made as he pulled out all the bottles letting them fall to the kitchen counter. Some fell to the floor and he picked them up checking to see if they were the once he wanted. One was the bottle of painkillers he was after and he spent a minute trying to open it until he lost his patience and simply bit the lid of spitting it in to the sink.

He shook out one of the pills and put it in his mouth swallowing it with a handful of water. Looking for the other bottle Danny heard the unmistakable sound of the Fenton RV stopping in front of the house. He considered going invisible as he heard the doors slam close, but decided not to and was still looking for the bottle when the front door opened.

“I am taking this one down to the lab, do you need any help with the other?” Called Danny’s mom to his dad as she walked in.

“It’s alright, I can carry this thing it’s nothing.” Laughed Jack and Danny could hear him huff as he lifted something heavy.

“Just don’t hurt yourself alright.” Said Maddie walking through the kitchen and would have walked past Danny without seeing him if she hadn’t needed to stop by the basement door to get it open. “Danny.” She said staring at him. “Didn’t you go to school?” she put down the Fenton-thermos she’d been carrying.

Having made it a point not to look at his mom Danny found the bottle he was looking for and tried to open it the normal way. His mom picked up the opened bottle and he could see her read it. “Is everything alright?” she asked reaching for him, putting her gloved hand on his shoulder.

The sound of his dad bumping in to things with something made Danny look up and in to the living-room where he saw the man carrying a large metal and glass container, as tall as he was but slimmer, an ectopusse in some kind of suspended animation inside of it. “You got the door open Mads?” he asked coming in to the kitchen.

“Just a moment.” Said Maddie giving Danny a concerned look. He wanted her to leave him alone and yet he wanted to be embraced in her arms and just scream at all the emotions flying around inside of him. Still if he wanted her to see him and to understand how she had made him feel he had to keep his distance. “Danny.” She said gently trying to coax a response out of him.

Closing his eyes and balling his left hand in to a fist he put down the bottle. “Yoh Danny-boy you up for helping your parents dissect some ghosts?” asked his Dad in that cheerful dull minded way of his and Danny growled. He couldn’t help it he was done with their ghost-hunting shenanigans.

“Why the fuck would I want to watch you destroy a life. What makes you think that I would ever want to do that!” he snarled shrugging his mom’s hand of his shoulder. “You are so screwed up that it surprises me that you weren’t reported to the CPS earlier than you fucking were-.”

Maddie looked shocked but recovered before Danny could go on. “Watch your mouth young man-“ She began but Danny spoke over her.

“Or what you clean my mouth with ecto-detergent soap, make sure I don’t have any of them pesky _ghosts_ twisting my tongue.” He glared at her, suppressed anger and feelings of betrayal bubbling to the surface.

“Son what’s gotten in to you?” Asked his father and Danny turned his eyes on him, they were burning with suppressed emotions.

“You act as if everything is alright, like you can’t see the truth. How many times am I going to have to put out the fires you’ve started before you see all the pain you are causing.” There was confusion on his parents faces as they exchanged a look but Danny kept going he just wanted to shout at them. “You can’t possibly be so blind that you don’t get that what you are doing is wrong can you?”

“Danny what are you talking about. We’ve never started any fires.” Said Maddie speaking calmly trying to make Danny calm down but it only helped anger him.

“Well there was that one fire.” Noted Jack offhand.

Slamming his right fist in to the side of the fridge the loud bang made both of them jump. “You are torturing and killing living creatures calling it research, wanting me to walk in your footsteps. Have you ever considered that ghosts are the same as humans just in another plain of existence! Hell you made a Fucking ghost-portal to prove that this was true-“

“Daniel ghosts can’t feel anything, it’s just a simulated reaction from the memories of-“ began Maddie.

“They feel everything. Don’t you understand you push away anything that don’t fit inside that fucked up version of reality you live in-“

“What do you know Danny, you have told us over and over again that you don’t have any interests in ghost-hunting!” Shouted his mom back.

“I don’t. Who in their right mind would hunt ghosts for a living. Heck if I ask Jazz she would say that that’s a sign of some fucked up delusion you are both sharing!” He needed to get away, he needed to be alone.

“That’s enough young man. You don’t speak to your parents that way-“ began his dad and Danny took a step closer to him.

“How much are you actually my parents. Jazz did more for me than you ever have. If it wasn’t for her I would have killed myself long ago.” He walked past them and slammed his fist into the control panel of the containment cylinder holding the ectopuss. It made a sound and the light that had been on inside the cylinder flickered before it died.

“Stop that!” shouted Maddie as she flung out a hand and grabbed Danny’s right wrist. Pain shot up his arm and he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a pained sound that made her let go of him an expression of surprise and chock on her face. “I’m sorry Danny I didn’t-“

He backed away from them pressing his throbbing hand to his chest. “You didn’t what, mean to hurt me.” He snarled. “You already have. You who I thought would never hurt me, told me to shut up and do as you told me. And you know what makes it worse.” His parents were staring at him as he backed towards the door. “You did it because you love me and I’m not allowed to be angry at you for that even when it hurts so much more than dying.”

Jack moved towards him but Danny turned around and walked out of the house, slamming the door close hard enough to cause paintings to fall off the walls. Turning invisible before anyone could come after him Danny leapt up in to the air changing back in to Phantom, tears streaked across his face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone, Im back on the regular schedual for now. The art is a bit behind, there's sort of a lot getting in my way right now but there will be art at some point.


	7. Chapter 7

Sam had sat through most of English without worrying, Danny was able to take care of himself contrary to what a unnamed geek friend of theirs said. She was mostly annoyed with him because he skipped lunch. They had agreed that he would eat everything she put in front of him even if he didn’t like it, just to make sure he wasn’t skipping meals like he did when something made him lose his appetite.

Spending the rest of the day in her own classes separate from Danny’s and Tucker’s Sam put the boys out of her mind and focused on what the teachers said was going to be on the tests after the break. She was somehow surprised that the art-teacher could force them to write an essay on how to critically analyze art in the public space.

By the time she got home she was tired and simply dumped her bags inside her bedroom door before going down to the only place at home where she could recharge. No one was allowed to enter her greenhouse, her mom had thought air fresheners on every flower would make them smell much greener, her dad had been banned after he knocked one to many pots over, the servants her parents insisted on employing knew to stay well away from her plants if they wanted to stay on her good side.

Entering the humid warm glasshouse Sam took her time greeting the plants, looking them over for any kind of fungus that might grow on them and watering the once who needed water. Having made her rounds Sam sat down with her pet plant and a book on the occult arts and artifacts by Frederich Isak Showenhower, better known as Freakshow.

She stayed in the quiet calm of her greenhouse until the sun had set and she was hungry. Saying good night to her plants Sam locked up the greenhouse and walked in to the house. Her parents were in the kitchen eating supper and reading the news on their iPads and the evening post.

Like always her parents tried talking to her but she put on her Fenton headphones and ignored them. She went through the fridge, got some left over broccoli pie that she heated up in the microwave. Sitting down at the table with her food her dad lifted the headphones off her ear. “Samantha your mother and I are talking to you.” He said getting a death-glare from Sam.

“What then?” she asked stabbing at her food. They were probably going to force her to come with them to some fancy dinner or try and stop her from seeing her friends again. Whatever they wanted she was not going to give it to them.

“I was wondering if you could give me a hand with the flower arrangements for a party I’m hosting next weekend. You made such lovely once for me when I was bringing them to the mayor.” Said Pamela drawing a frown from her daughter. Sam had expected something else entirely but flowers were sort of her thing.

“Um… Okay I might do that. What’s the party for? Is it some kind of fundraiser or are you just trying to get on the good side of some moneybag?” asked Sam stabbing her fork in to her food and putting the piece of broccoli in her mouth.

“Samantha what have we told you about language.” Warned her father.

“That it’s not fitting for a young lady. I was just asking would you want me to say snobs born with a silver spoon up their asses instead.” Sam retorted drawing a gasp from her mom.

“Samantha.” She said in mock surprise. Sam gave her that look that told her mom she didn’t give a shit. Sighing Pamela collected herself, there was after all no use starting an argument over something as small as the truth. “I and some of my friends are trying to encourage some…” she frowned. “Up nosed busies men and their wives to support the building of a spa over by the country club.” She lowered her voice a bit. “Not all of us are interested in golf you know.” She sent her husband a sidelong look and Sam understood.

“I can get behind part of that.” Shrugged Sam finishing her food. “When do you want it?” she asked already thinking of what she should do to fill her spring break. There was the movie next weekend and most likely some ghost fighting, if she could she was going to try and get Danny and Tucker to come over on a movie night or gaming night, and she was thinking of dragging Danny to a poets eve at Skulk and Lurk again.

“Could you do them by Friday?” asked Pamela as Sam got up from the table. “I’ll give you the theme for the party by Wednesday.”

Sam nodded. “Sure, send me an email.” She put her dishes in the sink and splashed water on them before leaving the kitchen and walking up to her room. Where she spent some time online, chatting with friends from the goth community and playing Doom2.

It wasn’t before Sir Lancelot logged off from Doom saying that he needed to get some rest that night that Sam noticed the time. 2:23 am and Danny hadn’t shown up. He had come over to her place every night between 12 and 1am since he got released from jail.

Getting up from her desk Sam walked over to the window and opened it. Leaning out she looked around for any signs of a ghost fight or the glowing form of Danny in the sky. For once it was a quiet night, an owl hooted somewhere in the distance and there was the normal soft noise from the traffic by the main road.

Leaving the window open she sat down behind her desk and opened a chatroom that she shared with Tucker, Valeri and Danny. “Any ghost activity tonight?” she asked. Opening a new tab on the internet she typed in the url for a local ghost spotting blogg. Someone had taken up the hobby of collecting news on the ghost activities in town and blogging about it, often with pictures from peoples Instagram and Twitter.

There was a post that told about two ectopusses attacking the waterpark that morning when the pools were being filled with water in anticipation of a heatwave that might make it their warmest spring-break yet. A later post showed a lot of Instagram photos of glowing green monkeys in the forest, with girls screaming in the foreground and Phantom fighting the ghosts. Some of the photos were not that bad. They showed Danny as a hero and had been taken without him noticing it or posing.

Reading the tags and comments Sam smiled. Unlike the local newspapers Danny was portrayed as a hero or as in one comment, “Your friendly neighborhood Phantom.” It was one reason she liked the blogg. The moderator would always give the negative people a piece of his mind for hating on Phantom and in general made sure the peoples thanks and gratitude was heard on the blogg instead of all the crap that was handed him in the media.

Scowling up Sam found a post that featured the Red-Huntress saving a firefighter from a ectoblast as she and a fire-ghost were battling it out around a burning cargo-train. There was another post about a ghost handing out free sample boxes that when opened would be empty. Someone had tagged the post with #BewareTheBoxOfDisappointment, #BoxOfBrokenPromises, #FreeBoxes. Sam found herself smiling knowing exactly what ghost could shout “beware” and then go on with something like, “Tremble in fear of the heart breaking box of disappointment.”

The chat pinged and Sam opened it to see a message from Valeri. “Apart from a firefly over at the train yard? No not really but I’m no expert Danny is the one who always knows when a ghost is around.”

Sam tapped her finger on the table for a moment before writing. “Haven’t seen him since this morning. How about you? You’ve seen him out tonight?”

She watched the loading symbol as Valeri wrote an answer and hit send. “Now that you mention it, I haven’t seen him since last night. Thou my proximity alarm told me he was ghosting around school during third period.”

Biting her lip Sam typed. “He wasn’t in class.” not putting her worries in to words.

“He’s probably avoiding being seen, heard he fought some monkey ghosts this morning. Did you know they throw burning shit around. The monkeys were the once setting the train on fire. I guess he missed them this morning.” Wrote Valeri back.

Lifting her thumb to her mouth Sam chewed on the nail. Danny might have lost track of the monkeys and spent the rest of the day trying to find them. He could have stopped by the school to get his things. And it was only recently they’d started sharing a bed, he could just be knocked out on his own bed having spent his energy tracking and fighting ghosts. “Seems like it. If you see Danny tell him that I still got his hoodie from this morning.”

Valeri’s answer was a short “Sure” followed by a smug emoji. Sam logged out of the chatroom and turned off her computer all together. She walked in to her bathroom and removed the makeup and lenses. Before brushing her teeth’s and putting on her pajamas. Crawling in to bed Sam snapped her fingers turning of the light.

But she didn’t sleep. She lay awake in the darkness her eyes fixed on the still open window waiting for Danny to show up. A part of her said that she was centering to much of her life around him. That she was losing part of her individuality by always planning her day with his ghost-fighting as a natural part of it. She should probably impose her individuality a bit more, maybe try and do stuff that didn’t involve Danny and Tucker or ghosts. Maybe she and Valeri could do something during the spring break, the two must have something in common that they liked to do without the boys. Yeah she would do that.


	8. Chapter 8

Trying to sleep Sam tossed and turned in bed trying to find a comfortable side to sleep on. She kicked of her blanket as it got to warm under it, but her room was to cold and she ended up pulling the blanket up around her shoulders again, only to repeat the evil circle. When she finally managed to fall asleep her brain didn’t stop thinking so by the time the sun rising Sam didn’t feel rested at all.

Deciding that she wouldn’t get anymore sleep she got up, put on some training clothes and went out for a run. Breathing in the fresh air Sam woke up a bit, feeling more human by the time she got home. Her parents were in the kitchen but didn’t say anything about her morning run.

By the time she’d showered an eaten breakfast, it was almost 9am and she was bored. Sitting in her room playing some Doom2 alone and listening to loud metal music wasn’t the same without her friends online. She spent more or less an hour trying to amuse herself before she gave up and wrote in their chat that she was going to the mall if anyone wanted to hang out.

Walking over to the mall she got an answer from Tucker. “I’ll be there in an hour, Valeri said she’d drop by before her shift at the Pizza place starts.” Sam narrowed her eyes on the message. Ether Tucker and Valeri were at the same place or just talking.

Reaching the mall Sam still hadn’t got an answer from Danny. Thinking about it she decided that he was probably still asleep. She walked past the window displays showing the latest in early spring fashion and signs exclaiming Sales. Stopping in front of a display showcasing a Arctic Fox scarf, Rabbit pelt mittens and a white fur pelt coat Sam got her phone up and taking a picture she tweeted on her favorite animal rights tag. She soon got a response and found a bench to sit on as she ranted on with other people.

Sam was so engulfed in her talk with her contacts on the internet that she didn’t notice it when Tucker arrived. They knew each other well enough by now that he didn’t interrupt her when she was typing but instead sat down beside her with a loud sigh. Finishing her sentence Sam looked up. “Was it that hard to walk here?” She asked a wicked smile on her face. She like this mall because it was a bit away from any good bus stops and was were her favorite spice store was located.

“No I just bumped in to some of our schools football players.” He answered massaging his calves. “I swear they will never forgive us for being friends with Danny.” He went on.

“Honestly Tucker you should report them. Haven’t you got enough dirt on them from hacking the schools cameras to have them suspended?” Asked Sam. She knew Danny had told her of Lancer keeping track of things like that on the school cameras, so why couldn’t they.

“You can’t do anything when it’s outside of school and if I do and they don’t get suspended my life is going to be more of a hell than it already is.” Tucker leaned back combing his fingers through his growing short hair. “Besides if we leak that information now it will look like Danny took vengeance on Dash and the football team the other week. We have to let things cool down a bit before we do anything and then there’s the question about Danny’s and Dash’s friendship.”

Sighing Sam nodded. She had thought it had been a joke when Danny told them he and Dash were more like study buddies and that Dash wouldn’t pick on him anymore. Dash hadn’t acted anything like a friend during school but after seeing the police interview him at the hospital she couldn’t stick to her belief anymore. Not only had they gotten a good look at what sort of man Mr Baxter was, but they had also seen what sort of character Dash actually was. That of course didn’t mean she’d just forgotten all the years of bullying Dash had inflicted on Danny and Tucker, she was however giving him a second chance.

“You could still nail the others. Dash isn’t the only bully in school.” She said typing a message on her chat.

Tucker nodded and dug out his phone from his jeans pockets. “If only. Dash is always around when someone other than Danny is being bullied if he’s not the one bullying them, and the rest of the team has it out for the two of us.” He scratched his head and slump down. “I hate this stupid plan of Danny’s. It’s like a two man war against Casper High’s bullies. Had he just stopped putting himself in their way when they were picking on others we wouldn’t be in this position.”

Agreeing with Tucker Sam decided to change the subject. “Speaking of Danny, have you heard from him, he hasn’t answered my message and he didn’t show up yesterday?”

Looking up from his phone Tucker seemed to think for a bit before shrugging. “He ran off after some ghosts yesterday during gym-class, haven’t seen him since.” Sam nodded staring of in the distance. “He’s probably beat up after the fight and is sleeping in. He sort of need it, seeing how cranky he’s been lately.”

Once more nodding Sam returned to her phone. “You weren’t very happy when you broke your arm last fall and Danny still have to fight ghosts each and every day, he has the right to be cranky.”

“Touché. So what are we doing here today. The arcade is open, we could break the records on Packman again.” Said Tucker in an offhanded way.

Shrugging Sam pocketed her phone. “Sure but no cheating, we both know I am the better gamer.”

That brought out a laugh from Tucker who put his phone away as well. “You are the biggest cheat of us all Chaos, how else do you explain your freakishly strong avatar, steroids?”

Sam elbowed Tucker as they got up and made their way towards the arcade. “It’s called mob-grinding, you should try it maybe you wouldn’t go down as soon as someone swings at you.”

“That someone being you, Mister I have a huge fucking ware-hammer don’t stand to close to me or I might accidentally hit you.” Retorted Tucker making air-quotas all the way.

“I said stand close to me, not get inside my swinging radius. That one was your own fault.” They went on bickering over moments in Doom when Sam had accidentally killed Tucker or he had made a mistake that got him killed.

They only stopped bickering long enough to get some change at the arcade before continuing as they were playing. It was fun, they didn’t have any hard feelings towards each other and the light banter took her mind of other things.

When Valeri showed up they stopped for lunch at a place that served Vegetarian food as well as meat for the carnivores like Tucker. Valeri joined in with her own tales of Tuckers gaming habits and Tucker answered with the story of him teaching Valeri how the game worked.

They were all laughing by the time Valeri had to go to work but Sam managed to convince her to go out with her on a girls-night the next day. This prompted Tucker to start asking questions which Sam managed to turn around on him. Honestly with the kind of parents she got it was actually very easy.

Spending most of the day at the mall the two split when Tuckers mom texted him about dinner and Sam was left alone to her own thoughts once more. Instead of going home however she kept walking, if she went home she would have to be social and she was not in the mood for that sort of dance. Her feet’s took her past the park and down to the train-yard where the burnt out skeleton of the cargo-train stood.

Unlike a crime-scene where the police didn’t know who had started the fire, the train wasn’t surrounded by police tape or any officers who had been tasked with keeping the public away. Amity Park was used to ghost causing destruction in their wake and whenever something got destroyed because of a ghost fight the police wouldn’t bother with any sort of investigations. The Fentons however did.

Sam found both Jack and Maddie Fenton by the train walking around it with their instruments. She considered for a moment asking the Fentons if they had seen Danny but decided against asking, Danny would show up when he wanted to, he could be in the FarFrozen with Frostbite and had told his parents he was at ether Sam’s or Tucker’s place.

Wondering around long past it got dark Sam finally arrived home. Her mom were as always happy to see her home, reminding Sam of what time it was and what could happen to a young “Lady” out late at night. Sam on her part didn’t tell her mom that she often was out past midnight fighting ghosts, safe in the knowledge that Danny would always be there to save her.

Finally getting away from her mom Sam’s grandma made the mistake of challenging her to some rounds down at the bowling lanes and Sam once more found herself pleasantly distracted, and losing. She had long ago gotten used to her grandma wining over her when they bowled, but coming so close to a sweet victory that night made the defeat that much harder and her grandma wasn’t one to take her victories like a lady. The old woman rubbed it in until Sam challenged her to a second round, which she lost as well. By the time Sam got to bed her arms and legs were hurting from the exercise and she was asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Getting up late the next morning Sam hit the shower before going downstairs where she made herself breakfast and took it out to eat in her greenhouse where she spent hours tending to her plants till Valeri showed up. Sam wasn’t sure if she wanted to let her in to the greenhouse, she let Tucker and Danny come in but they knew not to put their fingers on anything.

Deciding to give Valeri a chance Sam let the other girl in to her sanctuary and showed her around. They stopped at Sam’s workbench where she showed Valeri her Blood Blossom weapons and they spent an hour discussing different ways to make new ghost-fighting gear and how to use them. “Of course Danny can’t be anywhere near when we use most of these.” She said and Valeri nodded.

Their conversation continued as they left the Manson house and Sam decided to take a page out of Danny’s book and let Valeri lead the conversation. Deciding that they would watch a movie they made their way to the cinema where they spent way more time discussing movies they had seen than deciding on which one they wanted to see.

Unfortunately watching movies with Valeri turned out very similar to watching movies with Danny. Her ghost alarm went off halfway through the introduction of the main character and Valeri left coming back twenty minutes later having missed the beginning of the plot and had to ask Sam when she didn’t understand the characters reasoning.

After the movie they both went to a café Sam liked, mostly because they were completely vegan. She saw Valeri’s discomfort at the higher prices and sort of regretted her choice. She could have gone to a normal café and ordered something that was probably processed and made from chemicals instead of milk or eggs. “I’ll pay.” Said Sam getting an indignant look from Valeri that could have rivaled Pamela Manson’s.

“I don’t need charity.” Hissed Valeri her face red with embarrassment.

“It’s not charity. Charity would be when I pay for it and don’t expect you to pay me back.” Explained Sam. “I expect you to by the popcorns next weekend when we watch Star Wars.”

Valeri blinked at that and seemed to think for a moment before she lifted her eyes to the menu again and ordered a big Mocha late and a Vegan wrap. Sam took the wrap as well but had an expresso instead.

They sat down by the café window talking about the upcoming Star Wars movie and what they expected of it. Sam found that they had different opinions but that Valeri wasn’t like other girls she had known. Instead of trying to make her opinion the right one was Valeri open to her point of view. She found it refreshing talking about nerd things with someone other than the guys, and Valeri’s willingness to accept Sam’s thoughts as equal to her own made the evening interesting.

The part time employee had to ask them to leave when he was closing the café and the girls talked all the way to the park where Valeri’s alarm once more broke the normalcy of the night. “You want a hand?” asked Sam holding up her right arm where she had her wrist-ray.

Valeri’s armor crept up her arms and legs as she thought. “You know what, I wouldn’t mind.” She smiled. “Just don’t become a victim. I hate having to save your skinny little ass.” The armor covered Valeri’s chest and she held out a hand for Sam as the hover board materialized under her raised right foot.

“Is that so, well don’t come crying when you are biting off more than you can chew.” Said Sam taking Valeri’s hand and getting on to the hover board behind her.

When Sam finally got home later that night she had decided to never again fly with Valeri during a fight. Not only had she been aware of the great distance to the ground, but also how very exposed she was and how easy it would be to fall to her death. She managed to get up to her room without her parents talking to her and it took her much more time to wash of her makeup than normally. Her hands were still shaking from the adrenalin and she held them under the warm water for a moment taking her time breathing slowly to calm herself down.

Crawling in to bed Sam put her phone to charging and was looking through all the messages she had gotten from friends on the net when she noticed that Danny still hadn’t contacted her or anyone in their chat. She bit her lower lip thinking of what to do before she wrote a short text and sent it.

Putting down her phone Sam rolled over in bed and had just closed her eyes when the ping echoed through her room. She reached for the phone and had to pull out the charging cable to look at the screen without rolling over again. Unlocking the phone however showed no new messages, but she was sure she had heard the text signal.

Licking her lips she wrote Danny a new text before sending it. A second or two went by before the ping echoed through her room again. Only now that she had the phone in front of her she could tell that the sound was coming from somewhere by the foot of her bed.

Kicking of her blankets she got out of bed and walked to the foot of it where she sent Danny a third text. Concentrating this time she could hear it come from among her schoolbag and gym-gear. She sank down on her heals and started rummaging around in her schoolbag, finding a lot of junk and a lunch-box that needed washing but nothing out of the ordinary. Turning to rummage around her gym-gear her eyes fell on the hoodie she had borrowed off Danny. She picked it up and felt around it for a moment before finding the smartphone inside the pocket, together with the Fenton-pen he’d gotten from his parents.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’ll end this chapter here. ^^ see you next time.  
> Art will come when I have time to upload it, sort of have to find a job this summer.


	9. Chapter 9

Maddie drummed her fingers on the stearin wheel checking her watch not for the first time. She was early, they had said 10am when they talked over the phone earlier that morning yet here she was ten minutes early. She hadn’t slept that night, it had been the third night in a row that Danny hadn’t been sleeping at home and she’d paced in front of his door all night.

Glancing up in the rearview mirror Maddie pushed her hair back behind her ears again. She looked tired, the dark circles under her eyes looked somehow different to her normal signs of sleep deprivation and caffeine dependency. She had showered that morning after her call and put on her dark jeans and blue flannel shirt instead of the jumpsuit, she didn’t want to stick out to much in this place. She kept the boots however, they were stylish and functional, hiding most of the gear she had decided to carry in self-defense.

Turning to stare at the building outside she couldn’t understand how Danny had willingly entered it once a week. It was five stories tall, made of brick with bard windows and an atmosphere that reminded her of haunted houses and hospitals. When Maddie looked up Grace Road Psychiatric Hospital on the internet she had found out that the building had once been the Town Hall, but when the new one had been built some thirty years ago the old one had fallen in to ruins and would have been demolished if not for the gracious donation of the towns old mayor.

Peeking at the car clock once more Maddie got out of her daughters old Ford. The girl had bought herself a new one when she got accepted to collage saying that the old Ford couldn’t handle the long journeys and Maddie had to agree. Jazz had told them that the car was Danny’s when he got his driver’s license and it had been collecting dust in the garage for almost a year now and had by some miracle been untouched by Jack.

Walking across the street Maddie took the short stairs two at a time and entered the psychiatric hospital. The entrance had a couple of doors that lead in to other parts of the hospital, there were a set of elevator doors to one side and a receptionist desk at the far end. Along the walls were the typical waiting room chairs and indoor plants that only amplified the feeling of a hospital waiting room and Maddie had spent enough hours in those kinds of rooms the last year that she decidedly hated them on sight.

She crossed the waiting room where an elderly man sat reading a newspaper and stopped in front of the receptionist. “How m-may I help you?” asked the woman in a cheery voice that seemed oddly familiar to Maddie’s ears but she couldn’t place the face.

“I’m here to see a Dr Gideon Stone, we made an appointment this morning.” Said Maddie watching the woman type something in to her computer.

“Yes, may I see your identification please?” she asked and Maddie dug around in her purse for a moment before finding her driver’s license handing it to the receptionist who typed something in to the computer with her other hand before handing it back to Maddie. “Thank you, please have a seat m-ma-am, Dr Stone will be down in just a minute.”

“Thank you.” Said Maddie walking over to a seat beside the elevators, trying to figure out where she had heard the receptionists voice before and why that studded sounded so familiar.

She was chewing on her thumbnail, something she couldn’t do when wearing gloves, when the elevator door opened. A blond man with a kind face stepped out, he wore old jeans, sneakers and a green flannel shirt. He scanned the waiting room and his eyes landed on Maddie. “Mrs Fenton I assume.” He said offering his hand for her to shake.

Getting out of the chair Maddie took it. “You must be Dr Gideon Stone then.” She smiled trying to keep her emotions off her face.

“That I am. Come on up to my office we can talk undisturbed there.” He stepped to the side showing Maddie in to the elevator.

As they road up Maddie took the opportunity to study the man closer. He had a square face, sturdy gray green eyes that boar the signs of too little sleep, a short nose, thin lips and tiny wrinkles at the corners of his mouth. The man was fit but not much taller than Maddie and she suddenly realized that he was studying her as well.

The man gave Maddie a quick smile. “One can see the family resemblance.” He said making Maddie blink in surprise.

“I’m sorry.” She said trying to get her facial expressions back under control.

“Both Danny and your daughter have the same way of looking at people you’ve just meet.” He smiled and the elevator door opened on the second floor. “This way.”

Dr Stone showed Maddie to his office that to her surprise looked more like a living room than an office, she couldn’t see anything that resembled a desk. There was a group of couches and two easy chairs facing each other a coffee table between them. One wall held a bookshelf and a small table had an espresso-machine and a collection of mugs in different colors and sizes. “Take a seat.” Said the man hanging a sign that said ‘Do not disturb’ on the door.

Maddie sat down in one of the easy chairs, crossing her legs and clutching her purse in her lap. The Psychiatrist sat down in the chair opposite her crossing his legs and putting his hands in his lap, those unwavering eyes watching her all the time. “I assume you want to tell me why you asked for this meeting? It isn’t much I can tell you of my sessions with your son.” Began Gideon.

Sighing Maddie lowered her eyes thinking on her response. “I understand that. I asked to meet you because I think you know my son better than I do and I need some advice.” She lifted her eyes to watch the man’s reaction.

Shifting in his seat Gideon seemed to relax a bit. “Alright, that I might help you with. Care to elaborate what you want me to advice you on.”

Leaning back a little in the seat Maddie turned the wedding band on her ring finger. “I think… I would like to know what I can do to get him to talk to me again.” She said feeling her stomach turn in to knots as she said it. The man was a stranger and she was asking him for advice on her privet life. It was wrong and yet she had to. Jazz hadn’t wanted to get involved and had in the end taken Danny’s side, leaving her no choice but to ask this man whom Danny seemed to trust.

Gideon scratched his chin seemingly thinking over Maddie’s request. “Do you know what made Danny stop talking to you in the first place?” he asked.

Maddie scratched at her nails. If Jazz was right, and she usually was, Danny had stopped talking to her in order to prove a point, that she didn’t listen to him. “He is feeling betrayed because I told him to have the surgery to fix his hand before the damage became permanent.” She said her stomach twisting again. This had been a bad idea.

At this Gideon leaned forward a bit. “I don’t believe Danny would feel betrayed if his mother told him he needed a surgery to fix his hand. You sure that’s what you said?” he asked looking at her as if he could see straight through her.

“Those were not my exact words no.” She sighed deciding to tell him what Jazz had told her. “He feels betrayed because he thinks I didn’t listen to him at the hospital when the doctors were explaining the procedure.”

Gideon leaned back relaxed. “I can see how that might have made Danny feel betrayed. Was that the moment he stopped talking to you?”

Shaking her head Maddie could remember Danny’s attitude having changed before the surgery. He’d acted like they were people he couldn’t wait to get away from. “He stopped talking to me after the surgery. It wasn’t before last Friday that he even looked at me again.”

Getting up Gideon walked over to the espresso machine. “What happened last Friday?” he asked picking out two mugs from his collection and filling them both with coffee.

“Jack and I came back from a successful ghost hunt to find Danny in the kitchen when he should have been at school.” Said Maddie the memories of the argument flashed past her mind showing her the image of Danny shouting at them with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Handing Maddie one of the coffee mugs Gideon sipped the other sitting down in the easy chair again. “I assume he had a reason for not being in school.” He said.

Biting her lip and turning the mug in her hands Maddie averted her gaze. “He didn’t say.” She confessed feeling stupid for not having asked him why he was home, he would have given them an answer.

“And there is nothing you can think of that would have made him come home earlier?” continued Gideon. Maddie was about to answer when her mind caught on the sight of all the pill bottles that had been strewn across the counter. The one containing the painkillers that had been prescribed to him had been open the lid laying in the sink and he’d been struggling to open the one containing the muscle relaxant medication as she talked to him. “By that concentrated look on your face I gues you’ve thought of something.” Said Gideon.

Sipping at the black coffee Maddie gave him a hum of agreement. “He had opened the bottles with his painkillers and was trying to get the bottle with muscle relaxant meds open when I walked in.” She frowned. “But he hates toes pills, why would he take them?” She said more to herself than Gideon.

She had been too caught up in what Danny had said to think of the bottles that he’d been getting at. “A necessary evil.” Said Gideon getting Maddie to blink and stare at him not really understanding his meaning. He lifted the mug to his mouth, “Like some people don’t like taking their medicine because it makes them feel odd, Danny might not want to take them for that same reason. But when the need is greater than the want they become a necessary evil.”

Maddie blew on her coffee, she had thought it was weird that Danny took the pills he hated but thinking why made her wonder if Danny had been in pain. It was the only reason Danny would take the painkillers that Maddie could think of. “But why the other meds? He keeps insisting that there is no reason for him to take them.”

“Maybe something in school happened that made Danny think he needed them.” Suggested Gideon. “Tell me, what happened next?” He asked and a chill went down Maddie’s spine as she thought of what Danny had said.

Lowering the mug to her lap Maddie stared in to the dark liquid. “He snapped, Jack had jokingly asked him if he wanted to help us study the ghosts we had captured. He said some hurtful things, saying that he wasn’t interested in ghost hunting and that we were ignorant, that we weren’t actually his parents.” She swallowed her mouth suddenly dry remembering his next words. “That if it wasn’t for Jazz he would have killed himself.” She whispered, the words refusing to come out of her mouth.

How could she not have seen him hurting? How could she have been so blind that she missed the signs. She was his mother, she should protect him and in the end Jazz had been the one taking the roll which she should have been filling.

“So he finally told you.” Said Gideon and Maddie lifted her head to glare at the man. He had known! For how long! Why hadn’t he said anything to her. The man could tell what she was thinking because he lifted his hands palm up in a show of nonviolence. “I got him to tell me about it the last time we meet. Believe me he is far from suicidal. He probably just said that because he was angry and it was fresh in his mind.”

Maddie’s eyes hardened on him. “If you knew then you should have informed me. I am his parent. There is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep him safe, nothing.”

“That’s where the doctor patient confidentiality comes in. I made a decision and now I have to live with it.” His look intensified as he stared back at Maddie. “And that protectiveness right there is what has come between you and your son Mrs Fenton.”

She blinked and leaned back away from those hard judging eyes. “You want what’s best for him and Danny knows that. He knows that so well that when I meet him a month ago he was so exhausted from keeping you happy that he feel asleep on the couch as soon as he sat down. For him it was worth it because he wasn’t hurting you and that’s his biggest problem. He’d rather get hurt than let someone else suffer.”

Blinking Maddie tried to remember how Danny had acted during the mouth of January. She hadn’t seen much of him, he’d shown up for breakfast half asleep every morning and hung out with his friends as usual. Back then he’d been sleeping in his own bed and she’d sometimes heard him wake up in the middle of the night from nightmares. The rest of the time she’d been busy trying to figure out how the hypnotic music in the videogame had effected the students of Casper High that had fallen asleep and what the ectoplasm sand was. She had kept an eye on Danny using the tracking software she’d installed on his phone and he had in turn kept to their agreement.

Things had almost been like normal during the weeks before he got arrested. “Have you talked with Danny after your argument?” asked Gideon bringing Maddie out of her thoughts.

She shook her head. “No Danny’s been with his friends. I thought it best to let him cool off afterwards.” She had checked his position via said software on his phone and it had pinged him back in school when she checked that Friday and later he’d been at Sam’s place.

Gideon nodded and finished his coffee. “Then here’s my advice for when you talk to him.” She leaned forward listening. “Forget what you think is right or wrong and just listen to him. Hear him out and let him talk, you don’t have to pressure him he will say something eventually. The important thing is that he knows that you are there for him.”

Five minutes later and with her head still bussing with thoughts Maddie made it back to the old Ford and was just about to start the car when her eyes fell on a familiar back walking down the street. She would recognize that raven hair anywhere and was out of the car faster than she could remember, running up to her boy.

“Danny.” She called placing a hand on his shoulder as she caught up to him. “There you are, I’ve been worried-“ she stopped as he’d turned around to face her. The face was round and square jawed as Jacks, the eyes a cold blue he’d inherited from Jack as well and the black unkempt hair that so often dropped in to his face was much longer.

“Oh Hi Mrs Fenton, You looking for Danny?” Said the girl, her voice slightly higher pitched than Danny and Maddie realized it was Danielle she was talking to. She hadn’t seen the two apart much during the holidays and when she had she’d known which was which. Seeing the girl alone and after not having seen Danny all weekend she understood why her in-laws had sometimes mistaken the two.

“I’m sorry Danielle, I thought you were Danny.” She apologized feeling stupid. Danny was taller than the girl and had broader shoulders.

The girl laughed. “Yeah. Mrs O mistook the two of us a lot when he was living here.” She smiled. “You wouldn’t mind saying hi to him for me. I’d love to stay and talk a bit longer but there are a couple of flyers I have to put up.” She showed the bundle of papers that she was holding against her chest and a roll of duct tape around her arm.

“I will. It was nice seeing you again. Take care.” Said Maddie watching the girl walk away before returning to the still open car door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My first intention was for Maddie to meet Gideon in a later story but it feels right having this moment here, the other will still happen just for different reasons. Well I hope I haven’t lost you during these chapters I guarantee Danny will be back in the next one.


	10. Chapter 10

Scratching at his notebook he couldn’t help but think that his latest catch was beautiful. It had taken him two months since his first attempt to capture him and now the ghost was finally in the cage. He’d let the subject get settled in during the weekend, even thou he had wanted to start the questioning at once, he’d waited, let him scream and thrash till he’d seemingly exhausted himself.

Watching his catch discover how the cuffs worked had been especially interesting, they were after all made to keep his power-output below a 1 if it got higher he’d find the shocking surprise it packed. He’d stopped fighting with ghost-charged powers by Saturday morning and by Sunday evening he’d been begging for someone to hear him, to help him. It had brought a shiver to his spine watching the so human expression on his face as he cried for help.

Now early on Monday morning was the time to begin, no one would after all disturb him for a week and by the end of it most of his methods would have taken it’s tool on the ghost leaving him ether willing to talk or another experiment of the Ecto-Data mining device his suppliers had invented.

But for now he settle on studying the ghost’s very human appearance. His last subject had been human in appearance as well, slender, narrow waist, arms and legs in proportion to the rest of her body. The only thing that made this one more human was the color of his skin. Coaction with a slight tan, a straight button nose, round cheeks and a square jaw. His neck was slender, his arms were thin but looked well-muscled, his shoulders were broad, a belt that had held a Fenton-thermos as well as some grenades and an old phone was resting on his hips looking like it was going to slid of him at any moment. Mostly ghosts would lose interest in their physical appearance by the time they were creating their legs and if they weren’t disproportionate to the rest of their body they would simply have a ghost tail instead. This one however had like his last catch created legs that were as human as his friends cankels.

 He had already spent countless hours studying photos of the ghost, he could practically draw the hazmat suit in his sleep and after having spent hours in his own suit, he could see that the biggest difference apart from the belt was only the DP on his chest. Otherwise he was wearing an inverted copy of the same clothes and he itched to ask him about it. How had he come to wear a hazmat suit when he died? Did he change clothes after his death? Why wasn’t he wearing the stupid cap and googles that was itching so much?

A muscle twitched in the young face and the man found himself holding his breath waiting to see if the ghost was going to start acting aware of his surrounding again or keep up the pretend sleep. It turned out to be a bit of both as he began twitching more jerking his head to the side and making noises like some scared child. Watching the energy meter rise the man smiled as it reached 1 on the scale and the cuffs zapped him with another charge.

The ghost screamed, it was high pitched but not like a girls. When the electricity stopped the man found himself fascinated by the ghosts panting and gasping for air, as if it still believed it needed to breathe. Once he seemingly recovered the ghost turned hard glowing eyes on the cuffs and spent the following ten minutes pulling at them trying to get out. When he stopped fighting and relaxed his eyes wandered around the room stopping at his capture on the other side of the thick wall separating them.

“Good morning.” Said the man to the ghost and watched as it’s facial expression went from anger to recognition and then settled on burning hatred.

“You!” he snarled showing those sharp teeth’s of his. “I will destroy you for-“ Having heard that speech before the man pressed the button he’d been holding and his prisoner screamed again as he was electrocuted. It didn’t take him as long as the last time to find his voice again. “What do you want?” he asked a defeated note in his voice. Had he already given up?

“I’d like to have some questions answered. Questions you have the answer to. Mind answering them for me.” Calm and politeness always pissed the other ghosts off but this one was different, calculating.

He took his time thinking over his answer before sighing and shifting to have most of his weight on his left arm. “What the hell, seems like I’m going to be hanging around for a while.” He smiled. “Shoot, What you want to know?”

Turning the page in his note-book to a new one the man smiled, he’d expected the ghost to shout a bit more at him, to spit curses and promise to haunt him and his family till the end of times. “What’s your name for starters?” he asked.

The ghost tilted his head to the side watching him like he was an interesting snake at the zoo. “Phantom, don’t you kn-“ He pressed the button and this time the ghost managed to keep himself from screaming as electricity charged through his body. When it stopped he was heaving for air. Lifting his eyes to glare at the man he spat on the ground, the concrete floors first splash of ectoplasm. “My name is Danny Phantom-“ Again he pressed the button and again the ghost bit his tongue to keep himself from screaming.

“We can do this all day if you want to, I just want to know what your human name was.” Said the man lifting his finger from the button watching in silent fascination as the ghost’s chest heaved with his every breath.

“What is my human name to you?” he asked and the man gave him another jolt that this time drew a scream from his throat.

“Let me explain how this is going to go Ghost. I am not interested in collecting data on your powers or anatomy, I leave the scientific part to the experts later. What holds my fascination with your kind is who you were before you died.” The ghost growled and he lifted his finger off the button. “If you don’t give me the truth I will press this button.” He pressed it and the screams filled the cramped room. “If you deviate from my questions I press this button.” He pressed it harder getting a larger charge to go through the cuffs. “Give me a honest answer and you won’t be harmed anymore.” Lifting his finger from the button he watched his prisoner twitch and gasp for a while before lifting his head to stare back at him. “Do you understand me ghost.”

The hard eyes could have frozen the air but he closed them and took a deep breath that seemed to fill his lungs. No pretend lungs, ghosts didn’t breath. He collected himself and then spent the next hour trying to pull his arms free, kicking the connection for the cuffs and getting zapped with increasing amount of power till he once more was hanging limp by his wrists, toes barley touching the floor. “You done with your tantrum?” he asked and tired eyes looked up at him.

“Piss off.” Growled the ghost and the man responded by giving him another charge of electricity that left him twitching and gasping for air. “Would you please stop that.” Begged the ghost once he’d gotten his breath back.

Putting his finger on the button electricity started to hum in the relays but it didn’t shock his subject yet. “Answer my question and I won’t have to.”

Letting his head fall to his chest the ghost was quiet for a moment before speaking. “I once had this teacher who told me that you are whoever you believe you are and that’s the truth.” He lifted his head to look at the man his eyes tired. “So when I say that I am Danny Phantom then that is the truth.” His eyes hardened. “Don’t you think so Mr Peabody?”


	11. Chapter 11

The phone cackled and Sam opened it to find that Tucker had finally answered the text she wrote earlier that morning asking if he had any idea of where Danny was. His answer was short. “No, have you tried his phone.”

“Yes I’ve tried his phone, it’s at my place if you read my whole message before you would have know that.” She wrote back feeling her ears burning. She hadn’t slept, being out all night trying to spot him from her scooter. By the time the sun was rising she knew she had to stop and ask for help.

Valeri had been the first to respond and had been out all morning while Sam got an hour of shut eye, then Valeri had to go to work at the Nasty Burger. While Sam had been looking for Danny using the Fenton-Ghost finder she’d waited for Tucker to respond. Her phone played the message sound again and she read Tucker’s respond.

“Bet he is still sleeping. Have you checked at his place?” Sam sighed and stopped to type back.

“Just because you slept till the afternoon doesn’t mean Danny will. Besides we’ve said all weekend that he’s probably catching up on some rest but wouldn’t he have shown up at some point then?” She hit send and kept walking.

The next message came shortly after she crossed the street walking in to the park. “Alright, Give me 10 and I’ll go over to his place.”

Sam held her phone to her lips thinking. If they walked in to the Fenton Works saying that they were looking for Danny and his parents were thinking he was with them it could put Danny in a awkward situation if it turned out he’d been in the Far Frozen all weekend or doing his Phantom work. But if he really was missing wasn’t it best if his parents knew. Shaking her head Sam texted Tucker. If Danny had been taken by his enemies then it wouldn’t help him if his parents found out the truth, who knew if they wanted to dissect him or help him.

“If they ask say that you are there to get Danny’s computer. Say something about getting rid of a virus on it. When they ask where Danny is tell them he’s with me, the tracking software on his phone should have shown him at my place all weekend.” She hit send and turned down one of the paths in the park.

When her phone cackled she looked down on the message Tucker had sent. “I’ll get the Boomerang as well. Shall I meet you at your place later?”

Exiting the park Sam typed out an answer. “I’ll be at the Nasty Burger with Valeri, meet us there.” She could see the buildings sign in the distance and increased her speed.

By the time she walked through the doors of the burger joint her calves were burning from the hurried walk in her heavy boots. She had to stand in line before reaching the cashier who was Valeri. “Hi welcome to Nasty Burger proud creator of the nastiest burgers in town, what will it be.” She said cheerfully as if reading the words of an invisible card. She lowered her voice and spoke normally. “Did you find him?”

Shaking her head Sam looked up at the menus over Valeri’s head. “No. I got a hold of Tucker thou, he’s running by the Fenton Works to look.” She said off handed. “I’ll have a soya shake please.”

“One Soya shake, do you want Nasty souse with that. We have a special this week as well where if you by a menu you get an extra drink for half price.” Sam could literally see Valeri cringe at having to say the words in a happy fashion. “Is he going to come by here or do I have to hear what he found via text?”

“He’ll come by here.” Sighed Sam. “I’m fine with just the Soya shake thanks.” She could hear the person next to Valeri repeat the same lines and when the guy buying food said no thanks to the offer the girl went on explaining another offer.

Valeri however knew better then to try and force processed food on Sam. “That’ll be, 2.32. I’ll take my break when Tucker comes and you can tell me the plan as well.”

“Sure thing.” Sam payed and got her Soya shake. Walking over to their usual table Sam heard Valeri take a deep breath and start the practiced lines once more. She did not envy the other girl, had someone forced her to act happy in an ill-fitting yellow t-shirt and read lines that would eventually force the customer to by something more just to shut her up she would have punched someone.

Sitting down at their table Sam took out her phone and Danny’s as well as a charger for his phone. She plugged it in and let it charge, if the Fenton’s were using the software to track him they wouldn’t think anything about him being at the Nasty Burger and if they swung by to see if he was there she could just tell them that he was in the bathroom. That was if he wasn’t at home.

Staring at the clock ticking by Sam didn’t touch her drink, she didn’t have the appetite for it. The last time Danny had been gone this long he’d been taken by Vlad. The maniac ghost hadn’t hurt him… much. But he’d been placed in foster care after that which had brought a lot of trouble to his life as Phantom.

Thinking about it Sam picked up a notebook from her bag and started making a list of places where to look for Danny. At the top of the list was Vlad’s mansion in Amity Park followed by the man’s castle in Wisconsin. She wrote the Far Frozen next and after having come up with all the places where their friends and allies in the ghost-zone lived she started on where their enemies were, Skulker’s trophy wall being the first thing she thought of.

She’d made it to the GIW’s hidden base outside of Amity Park when Tucker walked in to the place. He gave Sam a wave before ordering food. When he got his order both he and Valeri walked over to her and sat down. “Did you find him?” asked Sam tapping her pen to the list.

“No.” Sighed Tucker taking of his thick jacket. “His dad was home and asked if I knew where Danny was, so I told him that he was with you.” He slurped at his soda. “But it didn’t look like he’d been home all weekend. His computer was turned off so when I started it I checked to see when he’d last been on it.” He unwrapped his burger smelling the greasy thing.

“Sometimes I wonder if he likes me half as much as he loves the burgers.” Sighed Valeri glancing at Sam who couldn’t help but smile.

“He’s married to his PDA, It’s when he divorces it that you know he loves you more than technology.” Said Sam drawing a snicker from Valeri and a hurt look from Tucker.

“I would never divorce my sweetheart. We’ll be together till death do us part.” He bit in to his burger. “Anyhow, Danny hasn’t been on his computer since last Thursday. We saw him last on Friday morning and Valeri had her ghost detector register him at the school during our third period. After that we don’t know where he’s been.”

The girls nodded. “I’ve been looking all over town for him but I have only picked up other ghost signatures on my scanners.” Said Valeri rubbing the bands around her wrists.

“I haven’t had much luck with the Fenton-Finder. Tucker did you get that stupidly named tracking device? We can start with that and if it doesn’t find him we should look at places in the ghost zoon and then the shielded places in this worldd.” Said Sam scratching her pen under Vlad’s name.

Digging around in his bag with one hand Tucker brought out the Boomerang and placed it on the table. “Anyone want to give it a go my arm’s are tired from carrying my backpack around with his computer and other Fenton gears in it.”

Sam rolled her eyes at her friend and snatched up the boomerang from the table, walking over to the door she opened it and threw the stupidly named device out. A minute later she returned to her seat slapping the tracking device down on the table. “He’s ether in the ghost-zone or a shielded place.” She said turning her eyes to the list of possible places they could find Danny at, drawing a line over Hospital and Cemetery.

“Alright then where do we start looking? I have another two hours to work before I’m free.” Said Valeri rubbing her hands in anticipation.

“The obvious place there is.” Said Sam underlining the top two places on her list. “Vlad’s mansion and his castle.”

“You should break in when he isn’t there.” Said Tucker taking a huge bite of his burger swallowing it without chewing. “I can activate Overwatch again and keep track of the old man.”

“Vlad is smart Tucker, he won’t make it that easy to get in to his house, he probably got state of the art home security systems that are on a different network just to prevent you from hacking in.” Said Valeri looking through the list. “I should go too, with my armor we can tap in to his home network and give Tucker access to it.”

Tucker nodded. “We won’t have much time, if you get of work in two hours and Vlad stays at his job till say 4pm, there’s like a 15 minutes window maybe. That’s not enough to get in to his mansion.”

“Then we take the Ghost-zone tonight. We pretend to have a sleepover at Tucker’s place. You can make it sound like we are all playing Doom, while Valeri and I go to see if Frostbite knows anything.”

“I can do that. You guys come over to my place at eight and you’ll be through the Fenton-Portal at eight thirty. By nine you’ll be in the Far Frozen and I’ll be at home in the warmth of my room.” Tucker finished his burger.

“Alright, you up for this Valeri?” asked Sam circling the Far Frozen on her list.

Valeri nodded “Yeah, just one question thou. What’s the Far Frozen and who’s Frostbite?”


	12. Chapter 12

Having cleared the gaming night at Tucker’s with her dad Valeri made a quick round of the town before heading over to the Foley house. She’d packed her bag with the things she need for a sleepover and Gaming night, her dad’s old laptop being one of the main things.

Tucker’s mom Angela opened the door when Valeri knocked and gave her a genuine smile. The smell of freshly baked cookies clung to the woman “Hi Valeri, come in. Tucker is upstairs in his room.” She said walking over to her kitchen where she was putting another batch of cookies in the oven. “You mind taking some of these up with you.” She smiled as Valeri took of her shoes, it had been raining outside.

“Sure thing Mrs Foley.” Said Valeri taking the tray of cookies and milk the woman had pointed at. She walked up the stairs and when she reached Tucker bedroom door she balanced the tray on her hip and knocked. She could hear Tucker moving on the other side of the door before he opened it.

“Sweet cookies.” He said taking the tray as Valeri walked past him. She glanced around the cramped room seeing the faint blue glow coming from under his closet door. He’d actually cleaned it for once, there were no dirty clothes covering the floor or tiny pieces of a computer he was taking apart on the carpet. He’d even made the bed, which Valeri noticed was a lot softer than normal when she put the tray down on it. “Make yourself at home, Sam’s on her way, she just have to convince her parents first.”

Valeri sat down in the small couch that would unfold to a bed. “And here I thought it was easy for her to convince them to let her sleep over at your place.” She said taking out her computer and starting it.

Sitting down in front of his own computer Tucker shrugged and tapped his fingers down on two key’s making the dashboard on his computer switch over to a black window with green code. “The only place her mother want’s Sam to be at is their home. Don’t worry thou, Sam will come even if her mom says no.”

Waiting for her computer to start up Valeri found herself staring at Tucker’s fingers as they flew across the keys typing out more code. She knew Tucker was smarter than people thought, he had to be otherwise he wouldn’t be able to hack in to all the security cameras around Amity Park. But this was something different, he was typing code straight from his head like a normal person wrote a story. “Out of curiosity you wouldn’t happen to have hacked the school’s system and changed your grades to look stupid have you?” she asked.

He turned his head slightly to smile at Valeri. “Don’t have to, can just pull my grades down during the actual tests.” Said Tucker his fingers still flying over the keys. Turning back to the computer however he stopped long enough to read what he’d typed.

“Okay.” Said Valeri wondering if she was breaking his concentration with her talking but figured Tucker would tell her if she was so she continued. “Can I ask what you are doing?”

Tucker held up a finger typing out a long string of code before hitting enter and getting more code that answered his. “I’m trying to create a Facial recognition software. I can’t really get my hand on the fancy one the government is using so I hope that mine will work.” He combed his hair back and Valeri saw that it was longer than the last time she’d seen him without his hat.

“You think you can find Danny using that software?” she asked as her computer finally loaded up her dashboard.

“It’s worth a shot. I just wished I could get a look at the FBI’s Facial recognition software. It would cut don’t on the trail and errors.” He sighed and glanced out the window.

There was a loud knock on the front door a moment later. Valeri and Tucker didn’t have to wait long to find out who had knocked as they could hear the loud stomps of Sam’s boots come up the stairs before she knocked once on Tucker’s door and entered. “As soon as I’m eighteen I am out of that house.” She said kicking the door close with a loud bang.

“What did your mother do this time?” asked Tucker pressing two key’s and the screen turned back to his normal dashboard.

“She tried to ground me for dating Danny. We haven’t been on a date yet! Apparently Mrs Fenton called to see if Danny was at my place and I had to make up some bullshit about him being here because of the gaming night.” She sat down beside Valeri. “His parents are probably going to call here to see if I was lying.”

“I got that covered. I’ll just say he’s getting some soda from the store, if she says they want to speak to him I can just say that he don’t want to and things will work out.” Said Tucker smiling at the two of them. “I got our recording from the last time we played Doom all night, it’s going to sound like we are very busy and I’ve told mom not to disturbed us so she won’t come in.”

Sam sighed and picked up her computer starting it as well before putting it on the floor. They all helped making it look like they were all playing and had just taken a break. Having turned Tucker’s clean room in to a mess Valeri walked over to the window and opened it. When she was sure that the coast was clear, she sat down on the windowsill and had hardly thought about the armor covering her before the bands around her wrists and ankles flashed red and the armor crawled up her legs and arms before covering her whole body.

Jumping out the window her hoverboard materialized under her and she turned to watch the others. Sam had her winter jacket on, even with the mild spring weather outside and she was putting on a Spector deflector belt that had pockets on it which she patted down before attaching a thermos to the side and Valeri could now see that it was almost an exact replica of the utility belt Danny had been wearing the last year.

Climbing on to the windowsill Sam reached out for Valeri who took her hand and pulled her onto the hoverboard. “Alright to Fenton Works then.” Said Valeri feeling Sam tighten her grip around her waist as they flew off.

A moment later Valeri heard a buzz of static in her armors speaker system before Tuckers voice came through. “Alright I’ve set of the Fenton ghost detection alarm. They should be heading out on a wild goose chase around town for the next four hours if everything goes as planned.”

Valeri could see the house ahead and the front door opened as the two residents ran out and jumped in to the RV they always parked in front of the house. “Yeah they just left.” Said Valeri.

“Put us down by the back door.” Said Sam and Valeri turned so that they landed in the small back yard. The goth jumped of the hover board and walked up to the back door which she tired to open only to find that it was locked. “Great they never lock the backdoor except for tonight.” She sighed and dug around in her pockets.

Having dematerialized the hoverboard Valeri walked up to Sam, seeing her pull out her keyring from her pocket and pick out one that fit in to the lock perfectly. “Do the Fenton’s know you have a spare key to their backdoor?” asked Valeri following Sam in to the kitchen.

“Danny knows, he gave one to me and one to Tucker in case we ever had to get in to the house when he wasn’t around.” They walked over to the heavy basement door and Sam pulled it open without a sound. “Make sure you close it behind us.”

Rolling he eyes Valeri closed the basement door behind them and followed Sam down in to the lab that was as always a mess. It looked like they were doing repairs to the Spector Speeder in one corner and trying to contain growing luminescing green mold in another. Walking over to the controls for the ghost-portal Valeri watched Sam take out her makeupkit and a piece of duct tape. “What are you doing?” asked Valeri.

Sam applied some of the makeup with a brush to the genetic scanner before putting duct tape over it and the scanner blinked green opening the blast doors that had been covering the ghost-portal. “Opening the door.” She said pressing a few key’s on the control panel. “Alright, we’ve got four hours now before the blast doors close.

“How will we get out if we are late?” asked Valeri helping Sam put her things away.

“Then we’ll go back to the Far Frozen and ask Frostbite for a ride back using the imfi-map.” Explained Sam walking over to the portal and without another word she jumped in to it.

Valeri had promised herself never to go back in to the ghost-zone if she could avoid it. This was one of those times when she couldn’t avoid it. Taking a deep breath she jumped through the portal summoning her hoverboard under her feet’s as she did. She had a feeling of having missed the last step on the stairs as she came out of the portal on the other side and it took her a moment to get used to the feeling of zero-g and at the same time standing comfortably on her hoverboard.

“You look like you just saw a ghost.” Mused Sam grabbing hold of Valeri’s shoulder putting her feet’s down on the hoverboard behind her. “Alright we go straight ahead from here and take a left at Skulker’s island. We’ll know when we are on the right path when it gets colder.”

Not really understanding what Sam meant by the cold bit Valeri got them moving. Once she’d made a left at Skulker’s island without encountering the ghost she wondered for how much longer they were going to have to fly in to the endless swirl of shapes and doors that led in to other parts of the ghost-zone. She was getting a bit anxious that they had gone the wrong way when there was still no sign of anything that could be called Frozen. “You sure we are going the right way?” asked Valeri glancing at Sam.

The other girl shrugged. “It wouldn’t be called the Far Frozen if it was near the portal.” She glanced at a hovering rock and pointed to it. “You have to turn a bit to your right or we’ll hit some stalagmites on the way in.”

Again taking it on faith Valeri turned to the side and kept going. The cold snuck up on her and she suddenly saw her breath on the air before the darkness gave way to a sudden cave with stalactites and stalagmites making it look like the gigantic jaws of a beast. She stopped and stared at it feeling a cold draft coming from inside. “I am not going in there.” Said Valeri turning to face Sam.

The goth rolled her eyes and to Valeri’s horror jumped of the hoverboard and in to the cave. Telling herself that she couldn’t just let Sam get herself impaled Valeri dove after her feeling the pull of gravity shift and she suddenly found herself diving towards a white light. She managed to turn her fall in to a controlled decent but still crashed in to the soft white snow.

Hearing the other girl laughing at her ungraceful fall Valeri let her hoverboard disappear and rolled over on to her back in the comfortable snow. “Don’t do that, you scared the life out of me.” She scolded Sam but couldn’t help the laughter coming out of her. She had expected something evil and menacing on the other side of the cave, not a fluffy welcoming heap of snow.

“You got to live a little, here Frostbite should be this way.” Said Sam offering Valeri a hand up.

They sank down to their thighs in the snow and Valeri summoned her hoverboard again rising above the snow giving Sam a hand up on it. “So is this the Far Frozen then?” she asked getting an affirmative hum from Sam. “Then could you explain who this Frostbite is?”

“You’ll know him when you see him.” Said Sam rubbing her hands together and Valeri now understood why the other was wearing her winter jacket. “Speak of the devil.” Smiled Sam and Valeri turned around to see what she meant.

Her weapons unfolded from her armor to point at the huge beast standing atop the snow in front of them red eyes gleaming, a beast three times as tall as she was, with horns and long tusks, he snarled down at them. “Valeri don’t.” Said Sam putting her hand over Valeri’s glowing wrist-ray, the white furred beast didn’t move, it just scratched it’s chin with a hand made entirely out of ice. She glanced at Sam who didn’t seem at all afraid of the beast in front of them.

“Ah, Lady Sam, I did not see you there. What may I ask brings you here with this stranger?” he leaned forward still towering over Valeri and sniffed. “It smells of other ghost’s and their defeat.”

“I am not an It!” growled Valeri and her weapons charged. “I am the Red huntress, who do you think you are?” She could hear Sam snicker behind her.

The beast blew out a breath of cold air that made her armor feel slow and sluggish. He rose to let out a howl that sounded odd, stopping and starting and Valeri suddenly realized that he was laughing. “Indeed, Huntress, I must say that you have some guts coming in to my kingdom like this and think you are something.” He spread his arms and Valeri got the full picture of him. He was wearing a blue sash around his waist and a tattered cloak around his shoulders, the left arm was made completely out of ice but she could see bones gleaming white at it center and with the white fur and snowy setting only one word came to her mind, Yeti.

“Valeri this is Frostbite, ruler of the Far Frozen and Danny’s teacher in all things related to his ice core.” Said Sam keeping herself from breaking out in laughter.

A chill went down her spine and Valeri swallowed seeing more figures take shape in the snow around them. Then Frostbite began laughing again and it was echoed from the other yetis around them. “Relax Huntress. You came in the company of The Great Ones loyal servant and we will not harm you.”

“And here I was preparing a hunter stew!” shouted a yeti from the group behind Frostbite and laugher erupted from around them and Sam joined in.

“Come, camp is this way.” Said Frostbite waving at them to follow and Valeri did, forcing herself to relax and make the weapons retract in to her armor again.

“What sort of place is this?” asked Valeri Sam in a low whisper.

“This is a safe place. Everyone here sees Danny as a savior and ally. We can trust these people.” Said Sam and they moved on till they reached a small camp with a burning campfire, makeshift tables and tents made out of skins.

“You two hungry?” Asked Frostbite waving at them to sit down beside the head of the table where a large throne like chair was set for him. Sam jumped off Valeri’s hover board and sat down on Frostbites left and Valeri sat down beside her knowing that one doesn’t sit on a leaders right hand side if you aren’t really important. Which made her wonder if Danny would be sitting there.

“We are fine, we aren’t staying for too long.” Said Sam rubbing her hands.

“I see, then I will cut the small talk and ask you straight out what brings you to the Far Frozen on your own?” He was talking to Sam but Valeri could feel those cold eyes on her.

“We are looking for Danny, he isn’t in our world so we thought he might be here.” Explained Sam.

Nodding Frostbite leaned back in his chair. “Unfortunately I haven’t seen him since he told me of Björn’s Death. Are you are certain he’s in the ghost-zone? I would have heard if any of his enemies had captured him in here.”

Valeri saw Sam bite her lower lip as she thought. “Could I ask a question?” Asked Valeri hoping the yeti didn’t have as bad a sense of humor like Danny did.

She saw a wicked glint in the ghosts eyes but he nodded. “You may Huntress.”

“Is there any parts of the ghost-zone where you don’t get information from. Places where Danny’s enemies could hold him?” Sam looked at Valeri and gave her an approving nod.

“There are many such places, the Far Frozen is not in the midst of all the action and thus we may not get accurate information from the rest of the zone.” He scratched his jaw and glanced at a cave close by before shaking his head. “I’d suggest go looking for him at Walker’s Prison, that ghost has had it out for Danny since day one. Or maybe start at Clockworks, that old geezer hasn’t been his normal self lately. He’s had the Observers over at his tower more than once and they’ve left emptyhanded every time.”

Sam rose and Valeri did the same. “Thanks Frostbite. Your help is much appreciated.” She said politely and Valeri realized that the goth actually had manners.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know to be honest, I have the concept clear in my mind it’s just how to get from point A to point Z with everything that needs to come between them. Well it’s a fanfic and doesn’t have to be a perfect book so mistakes and nearly irrelevant chapters might occur, (tho the chapters might hold some relevant answers who knows? I do ^^)


	13. Chapter 13

Wishing he had a watch or a clock or even a window to tell the time Danny found himself slipping back in to the familiar breathing pattern Frostbite had taught him. He was bored hanging from his wrists, his right hand had stopped hurting after a while and was now pleasantly numb unlike the rest of him. He had never imagen hanging from the celling by his hands would put such strain on his shoulders and back. If the cuffs cutting in to his wrists didn’t shock him every time he used his powers he would be floating instead of hanging.

By now he knew where everything in the room was so well that even with his eyes close he could place them. The steal door was behind him, to the left of it were pipes going through the celling down through the floor, beside that was a table with instrument he’d seen in his parents lab. Computers and monitors were to the left of that and in front of Danny was a comfortable armchair. A white sheet covered something big and bulky to the left of the chair, beside it stood a coffee machine and a small fridge and then he was back at the door.

The room might be a perfect circle but his prison was a cube, a fucking containment cube with cameras pointed at him from the outside and drainage in the floor for when the crazy scientist would start cutting in to his brain. The memories of Ember inside a prison just like this made him shiver and Danny drew in to the cold center of himself where calm rained. The lights in the room had been flickering all the time annoying the hell out of him until his so called History teacher had showed up.

The teacher had been cold and heartless when talking to Danny, not at all like the carrying energetic and involved man he’d gotten to know during class. The fact that Danny knew his name had scared him and after sending a huge amount of power through his body the man had left and the flickering had started again. Danny sort of wished he would come back, at least then he would have someone to talk to even if he would most likely be fried to a crisp again. Just because the man wanted to know about his human life.

At first he’d thought the man knew what he was but then if he did he wouldn’t have imprisoned Phantom, he wouldn’t be torturing him just for information that he would have already. “Are you sleeping?” asked Peabody and Danny opened his eyes to look at the man sitting in the chair on the other side of the glass.

“What happened to the jumpsuit?” asked Danny having noticed that the man was once again wearing jeans and a shirt under a white lab coat. The notebook was in his lap again and he was scratching at the paper.

“It was itching.” Sighed Peabody scratching the back of his head with the pen.

“Yeah it always did, and because of the gloves you couldn’t scratch the itch.” He remembered how his parents would always tell him to wear the suit when down in the lab. They had stopped forcing him in to it after Jazz had told them that they were forcing him to fit in to their world when he would be much more comfortable being in the lab with them if he wasn’t forced to wear the jumpsuit.

“You are still wearing it.” Said Peabody jotting down something on another page before returning to the one he was scratching at.

“Sort of gets comfortable when you die.” Danny smiled. “You should try it, a lot of things are more comfortable in death.” He knew he was pushing it suggesting the man would just kill himself and was preparing for another shock of electricity that never came.

“Someday maybe. Were you sleeping?” He asked his eyes flicking up to Danny before returning to his notebook.

“I wish, could explain this nightmare.” Taking a deep breath he pulled himself up, grabbing the fastening of the cuffs and kicking his legs up planting his feet on the celling where he sat down pulling at the cuffs to keep himself on the celling.

“Comfortable?” asked Peabody turning a page in his notebook.

“No my blood is rushing to my brain, you look comfortable thou, care to give me a seat?” Peabody smiled and shook his head. “Couldn’t hurt to ask.” Sighed Danny closing his eyes trying to return to that calm place in his center.

“What did you do when you were alive?” asked Peabody.

Opening an eye Danny shrugged it wasn’t going to tell the man anything if he gave him the basic things of his pre-ghost life. “Eat, slept, played games and went to school.” He answered and there was a hum in the cuffs that made his heart speed up and he waited for the man to shock him.

“How old were you?” he asked and Danny bit his lip grabbing on to the cuffs fastenings a bit harder. “How old were you?” asked Peabody and Danny shook his head. The power surged through his body and Danny screamed but didn’t lose the grip on the cuffs.

When the power stopped he did his best to catch his breath again. “How about what year you were borne?” Asked Peabody and Danny kept his mouth shut resulting in another burst of power coursing through him.

This time he lost his grip on the fastenings and fell down to hang from his wrist again. “Stop!” he begged doing his best to keep the tears out of his eyes. He didn’t want any more of this, he didn’t want to be fried over and over again reminding him of the worst day in his life.

“All you have to do is honestly answer my questions.” Said the man in a calm and understanding tone as if he was asking the question to his history test.

“And what if I can’t. What if I don’t know the answers to your questions?” he cried. He couldn’t help it he just wanted the pain to stop he wanted to go numb as his right hand had and not feel anything.

“You will eventually. Shall we take another question then. Why are you fighting other ghosts?” He asked the hum starting in the cuffs again.

“Why wouldn’t I, people would get hurt if I didn’t.” a quick jolt went through him. “It’s the god dame truth, what more do you want from me!” the thought of rolling in to a ball sounded good to Danny, rolling up in to a tight ball and hid in a dark corner without any flickering lights or hum of electricity.

“What do you care about other people ghost? You are just after the emotions like the rest of them. Why do you insist on fighting your own kind.” Peabody’s thumb hovered over the button.

“I am still human. More so than yo-“ he was cut off when Peabody pressed the button and his words were replaced by the scream the electricity drew out of him. When the power stopped he drew in a deep breath. “People like you are the monsters, destroying the life of the dead just because you don’t-“ again Peabody pressed the button and more power coursed through him and he thought his teeth’s were going to break from biting down so hard.

His vision blurred and when he opened his eyes again the blurred form of Peabody was staring back at him a cup of coffee in his free hand. “Hope you don’t mind.” He said lifting the coffee to his lips and sipping it. “We have a long night ahead of us. Who were your parents?”

“People who will rip you apart for thi-“ again Peabody pressed his finger down on the button and Danny screamed wanting to be alone again, to be left to hang around for all eternity alone. The power cut out and he drew in air to his lungs. “why don’t you just get this over with I am already dead what’s another dead ghost to you.”

“I think you have misinterpreted my intentions Danny. I don’t do this because it gives me any pleasure, it pains me to hurt you this way especially since you are still a teenager, even if you might have existed for many years more than me. I just want to know your story so that I can tell it to the world, so that those ignorant newspapers will stop writing you off as a monster.” Danny stared confused at the man. “I want the people to know what sort of person their hero was before he died.”

“You could have just asked to write my autobiography then, I could have referred you to a writer with a flair for the dramatic.” He sighed and giggled at the thought of the Ghost-Writer and his History teacher hitting it off over peoples biographies, which lead to him giggling over the thought of the two fighting over who was going to have his name written as the main author.

The shock stopped his hysteric giggles and Danny hung from the cuffs silent once more, the taste of copper in his mouth. “There are more ways in which I could make you talk Danny. Just tell me what I want to know and you’ll be free.” Lifting his head Danny spat at the glass wall and got electrocuted again. “Tell me something about your life as a human and I won’t press this button.”

Drawing a deep breath that felt unnecessary Danny leaned his head against his right arm staring at the man. “I was happy.” He finally said wishing not for the first time that he could go back to being that happy Danny Fenton he’d been before the accident. Having his parents nag at him for sleeping in, listening to them babel on about ghosts and how the ghost-portal was going to prove everything. He hadn’t believed them, sure weird things happened during his childhood but never anything that couldn’t be explained by his parents inventions.

“Keep going.” Encouraged Peabody the hum of power filling Danny’s ears.

Thinking back he tried to remember his childhood. It felt alien, a life time away, something that happened to someone else. Was he really the same Danny Fenton who had snuck out of his rum every night to stare at the stars till his mom found him and started explaining them. She’d pointed them out to him one by one naming them. “Sirius, Antares, Canopus, Alphard, Regulus, Aldebaran, Procyon-“ The shock of electricity cut him off and he spent a long time twitching uncontrollably after it stopped.

“Tell me something about your life as a human?” Asked Peabody his thumb hovering over the button.

He didn’t know why he did it he just did. “Sirius, Antares, Canopus, Alphard, Regulus, Aldebaran-“ he repeated and was again zapped. When he was able to speak again he stared at the floor. “S…Sirius, An…ntare…s, Can…nopus, Alp…phard, Reg…gulus-“ again he was zapped and again he continued repeating the star names as soon as he could speak.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don’t know where I wanted to go with this but yeah Danny might try and liven things up a bit, you know act normal, keep things from zapping him, his natural defense mechanism in this situation, even just holding on to something he loves seems like a good idea for him. Wonder how long he’ll hold out. ^^


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the slightly late update, I didn't get my hands on any wi-fi yesterday, also the art might be a bit slow as well, the one I did for this chapter was basicly crap and I'll redo it when I have time.

The three teenagers sat on the sofa-bed in Tucker’s room early morning light was purring in through the window making the tired teenagers blink at it. Valeri had been the first one who stopped making sense when speaking and after her yawn nearly dislocated her jaw Sam stopped talking as well. They were stubbornly refusing to fall asleep even if their eyes tried their best to close.

They had tried to come up with a strategy for the day as soon as Sam and Valeri returned from the ghost-zone, their talk to Clockwork had turned in to a philosophy debate which Sam found herself loosing. The Master of time had given them one good piece of information, they would find Danny. He was just very unclear as to when, or how or even where.

Valeri was leaning her head on Tucker’s shoulder as he continued writing his code seemingly the only one who was awake enough to do anything productive. Yawning and pressing the key’s that changed the screen back to his dashboard Tucker put the keyboard back on his desk and lay down on the bed. “I can’t see straight anymore.” He said and Valeri curled up by his side.

“You aren’t seriously going to sleep right now?” Asked Sam having starred at her list for the last hour thinking up new places to look.

Yawning Tucker removed his glasses. “What help will we be if we are tired and can’t think straight. We can get some hours of sleep now and eat something later. And then we break in to Vlad’s mansion in broad daylight to see if he’s got Danny hidden somewhere the boomerang can’t get to.” He rubbed at his eyes. “I’m tired Sam, just rest will you.”

Biting her lower lip Sam tossed a blanket to Tucker and pulled another one around herself curling up in the corner of the sofa-bed staring at him and Valeri. In the two weeks Danny had been sleeping by her side, she’d gotten use to his presence, always feeling his cool arm under her head. His steady breathing that sounded like the wind blowing through her hair always making the room chilly but never making her freeze.

Her eye fell close and she fell in to a restless slumber.

 

Grumbling under her breath Danielle flew across the gray sky. It wasn’t her fault that he’d left, wasn’t her fault that he’d been an ass throughout the month. She hadn’t told him to break the rules, no he had done that all on his own. And now here she was looking for him, going from street to street putting up missing person posters asking people if they had seen him getting the same answer all over. No, nope, sorry, naa, don’t think so, not sure, have you tried the police. Of course they tired the police, they had gone there when he didn’t show up that Saturday after the fight on Friday.

Slowing down Danielle scanned the skyline till her eyes fell on the glowing neon sign and she flew for it. It wasn’t that she couldn’t look for him herself, she had done that all weekend. No she wanted some fresh eyes on her trouble, she wanted help.

Landing in an alley close to the Fenton house she switched in to her human form and started down the street. She didn’t miss Cody, his constant bullying and teasing made life hard for her. But he didn’t let anyone else pick on her at school. He stood up for her when none of her friends did. He was there watching her win the game last Friday, before he broke the football team’s captains nose for laughing when she fell on the ice.

Walking up the steps to the front door Danielle sighed and knocked. She still had a key and could go in whenever she wanted. Listening she could hear the two adults talking as the lighter footsteps walked towards the door. It opened and Mrs Fenton looked down on Danielle and for a moment looked as if she was seeing someone else before she recognized her.

“Hello there Danielle, what brings you here?” she asked. Danielle couldn’t help but think the woman looked different somehow, haunted almost. Maybe she was just tired.

“Hi, is Danny home?” Asked Danielle smiling.

The woman’s eye’s turned away and she sighed, not the tired one or sad either but annoyed. This was interesting thought Danielle, she had always thought Danny had a good relationship with his parents. Seeing how close they were during the holidays had made her jealous until she found that the Fenton’s treated her the same way not caring if she was their child or not. “Danny is at Tucker’s last I hear.” She said crossing her arms. “Why do you want to talk to him?”

Biting her lip Danielle thought about telling Mrs Fenton of what had happed and decided that it wouldn’t hurt. She dug in her jacket pocket coming up with one of the flyers she’d been putting up last time she saw the woman. “Mrs O’s son, Cody. He ran away last Friday, I’ve been putting up these flyers all over Wishing Hill and now I’m here looking for him. Thought maybe Danny would help me.” She explained.

Taking the flyer Mrs Fenton’s eyes soften as she looked at the photo. It had been taken that New Year when he and Danielle had snuck out to watch the fireworks from a bonfire near the school. There had been a lot of teenagers and young adults that had shared their bears with them and Cody had gotten drunk were as Danielle stayed sober. The photo had been his idea and they had fireworks going off in the background as they smiled in to the camera, Danielle had cropped the photo on the flyer to show half her face putting Cody in center.

“I see, can I keep this?” Asked Mrs Fenton and Danielle nodded. Then the woman smiled down at her. “You’re a good girl. When you see Danny tell him I want to have a talk.”

There was something sad in the way she said it and Danielle only nodded before turning around and heading down the street. She had a feeling that there was something going on that she had missed and she was going to make Danny tell her.

She could have gone ghost and flown over to Tucker but she walked putting up flyers on billboards and lampposts on her way. Reaching the house she knocked on the front door and a moment later Tucker’s mom answered the door. She did a double take staring at Danielle and she guessed she had to get used to that when meeting people who were used to Danny and not her. “Hi there. Can I help you.” Said the woman sweetly giving Danielle a warm smile.

“Depends, Have you seen a guy who looks like me and goes by the name of Danny Fenton?” she asked smiling back at the woman.

Mrs Foley’s eyes glanced towards the stairs before returning to Danielle. “Can I ask who you are?”

“Danielle Fenton, I am Danny’s third cousin twice removed. Also a friend of Tucker. Can I come in.” She said but made no move to step over the threshold without an invitation.

The woman blinked at her for a moment, taking in everything she’d said before taking a step to the side. “Come in, they are upstairs still asleep.”

“Great, I’ll wake them up.” She chirped and bounded up the stairs before Mrs Foley had even closed the door. Upstairs she headed for the door that had a ‘Do not Disturbe’ sign on it and tried to open it. Finding that the door was locked Danielle shrugged and phased through the door.

She got a quick glance of the room and the three sleeping teenagers on the sofa-bed before an alarm sounded and the two girls almost jumped out of their skins fumbling for weapons. The dark-skinned girl lifted her hand in Danielle’s direction her armored hand holding an ecto-gun pointed in her face. Sam held a similar wrist-ray pointed at Danielle and the two of them blinked sleepily at her. “You can lower your guns, I’m not a ghost.” Said Danielle a crocked smile on her lips

“Crist, Danielle.” Said Valeri lowering her arm and sitting back down, giving the still sleeping Tucker a gentle shove that woke him up.

“Why are you here, Danielle?” Yawned Sam rubbing at her eyes as she sat back down in the corner she’d been sleeping in.

“Looking for Danny, his mom said he was here.” Said Danielle. She saw how the three exchanged a look and it hit her then that there were only three of them there. “Don’t tell me he’s out fighting ghosts.” She said rolling her eyes at his typical heroics.

“No.” Said Sam biting her lower lip.

“He’s not here.” Said Valeri having a similar expression to Sam and Danielle licked her lips trying to recognize the emotion by it’s taste. Bitter sweet, Worry.

“Where is he then?” she asked.

“We don’t know.” Yawned Tucker getting up and stretching. “He hasn’t been around the last couple of days. Not since this Friday.”

“Not him too!” sighed Danielle sitting down on the empty computer chair that had been pushed to the side to let the sofa-bed extend. “What is it with boys that makes them disappear before spring break.”

The others exchanged a look and Valeri spoke. “What are you talking about?”

“I’m Talking about Cody disappearing after he had a fight with Mrs O for punching a jerk in the face. I’ve been looking for him all weekend and no you are telling me that the only person who could make this easier is missing as well! Someone pinch me I would like to wake up from this nightmare.” She rambled on till she had no breath in her lungs and had to stop.

“Okay, that’s some coincidence.” Said Tucker looking at the others before returning his gaze to Danielle. “Tell us what happened.”

She did, she went on telling them who Cody had started pissing Mrs Oswald off ever since the start of February and how he’d gotten worse, started fights and gotten in to shouting matches with his mom until he had told her to go to hell and then slammed the door close on his way out making paintings fall of the walls.

When she finished tears were rolling down her cheeks and she found herself being embraced by Valeri. “I don’t like Cody, he’s mean but he’s hurting Mrs O and she has done nothing to deserve it.”

“It’s okay I get you.” Hushed Valeri patting her head. “It’s not easy when people fight, you have done nothing wrong, okay.” She let Valeri’s words calm her.

Collecting herself Danielle straightened and looked over at the others. “I guess I can’t ask you for help can I?”

Sam hopped of the bed and stretched. “Sure you can. Looking for two Idiots won’t be much harder than looking for one.” She pulled out her ponytail and scratched at her head. “If I’ve learned something, it is that there are no coincidences. There’s probably a reason Danny and Cody disappeared at the same day.”

Danielle smiled up at the older girl. “If you got a photo of him I could start looking through security cameras right now to see if I can spot him.” Said Tucker tapping a couple of key’s on his computer bringing it back to life.

Nodding Danielle dug out the last flyer from her pocket and handed it to him feeling oddly relived at having the others there helping her. “While he’s doing that, we can start by getting something to eat and then make plans.” Said Sam putting up her hair again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thus the plot thickens.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again I'm sorry the update is a bit late, life and the fact that I'm still without internet at home is getting in the way. Art will come later when I have had time to scan in the drawings.

“Alright Vlad is still at work and I haven’t seen any of his copies flying around.” Said Tucker in Sam’s ear.

“Thanks Tuck. Tell us when he’s coming towards us.” Sighed Sam before glancing over at Danielle. “Phase us in, we take the upper floors first then go down until we find his lab. If Danny is here we will find him.”

Nodding Danielle lowered them down from the sky, they phased through the roof of the building and began the slow search through all the rooms. The top floor held nothing new, it was mostly old furniture that had been broken in one fight or another. The second floor was a bit more interesting.

Mostly there was bedrooms or guest rooms but some of them were different. One being the master bedroom had clothes laying strewn around the floor, there was a reading cornered and a door that led in to a walk in closet filled with suits of the same kind. Sam was about to continue on to another room but Danielle walked in to the closet.

“There’s nothing there.” Sighed Sam following the girl.

“You forget this was my home for a brief time.” Said Danielle walking over to a rack filled with black polished shoes. “Vlad didn’t want us to be seen but he still treated me and my brothers like family.” She reached down grabbing a pair of cowboy boots. “And our room was behind here.” She pulled at the boots and the shoo rack swung open revealing a large room.

Walking in to the room Sam wrinkled her nose at the smell. It smelled like a space that had been closed for too long. Dust covered every surface in a thick layer. “No one has been in here for a long while.” Said Sam, she glanced at Danielle who floated in to the room.

“That’s my bed.” She pointed at an unmade bed that had crayons and drawings covering the floor. “That was big brothers bed, Vlad gave him that model of the Explorer Hartman shuttle.” She giggled pointing at futon on the floor beside it was what looked like a half finished rocket model. “Can you imagen that big guy trying to build that delicate thing.”

Seeing a flat screen tv and an Xbox Sam pointed at it. “Who’s was that?” she asked seeing one matrass in front of it.

“That would be my other brothers. They would never let me play and after big brother broke the controls they didn’t let him play ether.” She smiled sadly before turning around. “Come on no one has been in here since I left.”

They walked back out the way they’d come, the door swinging silently closed behind them. The next room they entered was clean with no sign of dust on any surface. The big four-poster bed in the middle of the room had heavy dark red curtains and Sam noticed that one of the posts at the foot of the bed were scratched. “Guest room?” guessed Sam opening the closet door finding it filled with clothes.

Shrugging Danielle floating over to the easy chairs in one corner of the room and sat down. “Don’t know we were never allowed in here.” She said stretching her leg. “This is comfortable, all that’s missing is a tv.” She noted.

After checking under the bed and inside the fireplace they moved on. It turned out Vlad’s mansion had a lot more questionable rooms, one in particular was apparently a shrine to Danny’s mom and another looked like it had been trashed recently. “You think Danny was here?” asked Sam once they left that room and continued down to the first floor.

Danielle shrugged. “Might have been him, might have been some other beast.” They walked through the kitchen, dining hall, study, bathrooms, living room, music room, a room filed with portraits of Vlad and eventually the library. “Only one place left to look.” Said Danielle walking past a bookshelf devoted to knitting and the packers.

“You know how to get to the lab?” asked Sam wondering if she was going to pull out a book and a secret door would open.

“Yeah Vlad didn’t hide that from us.” She walked over to the open fireplace and turned one of the football’s that stood at a corner. A hiss came from the fireplace and the whole thing moved inwards. “He tends to be a bit obvious when it comes to secret labs and such.” Smiled the girl floating in.

Shaking her head Sam followed. The lab was ten times fancier than the lab down at the Fenton’s basement. Every surface was shining and looked state of the art, everywhere she looked there was lab equipment, shining screens, beakers filed with different colored fluids and a general smell of bleach.

They looked through the lab, crawled under tables and between bulky equipment’s but wherever they looked there was no sign of Danny. “Where’s the rest of the lab?” Asked Sam when she realized that what they were going through didn’t have that evil ‘I am planning to take over the world’ vibe.

“I don’t know, his clone lab was…” Danielle trailed of looking around. Her eyes landed on a large bulky machine that looked like a canon. “Give me a sec.” she said diving through the thing.

Shrugging Sam walked over to the large computer terminal and found a USB port which she hooked up a portable WiFi connector to. “Hey Tucker I have access to Vlad’s home computer.” She said in to the come

There was a sound of static before Tucker’s voice came through. “Yeah I got it. Where are you, I can hardly hear you?”

“The lab, the old man has probably got some shielding here, or that’s what Danny said.” She moved over to a workbench that had equipment strewn across it. Thinking that they might be Fenton Works inventions she picked up one of the guns and turned it over in her hand looking for the trigger but it didn’t have any.

“Found the real lab!” said Danielle her voice sounding like it was coming through the wall. A moment later the girl appeared phasing through said wall. “Come on it’s this way.” She took Sam’s hand and she followed the ghost girl through the wall and in to a second lab this one resembling a mad scientist in every sense of the word.

From the huge tanks with glowing green ectoplasm, to the jars that held green brains and flowers that were trying to eat their way out, to the antennas hanging from the ceiling and the stainless steel examination table in the middle of the room. Everything screamed cliché evil and Sam rolled her eyes at the overly dramatic lighting. “Okay that’s not at all a set for the next Frankenstein movie.” She Said helping Danielle to look for any signs of Danny.

“That’s it.” Said Danielle sitting down on the examination table. “We’ve looked everywhere in this rotten mansion and there is no sign of him. Where do we go next?”

Sam crossed her arms and looked around. There was something missing. “Where’s his ghost-portal.” She asked and the girl looked around.

“Behind a wall panel, a bookshelf, portrait or some Packers stuff.” Hummed Danielle narrowing her eyes on a large computer screen. “Like this one.” She said flying over to it.

“That’s not anything of what you said?” she noted but went along with the younger girl after all she knew Vlad better than she or Danny did. She watched as Danielle let her fingers roam over the screens until she found a screw that she pressed in till it clicked and the screen sank down in to the floor.

The room filled with the glow from the ghost portal and the two girls looked at each other. “We could take a look and see where it come out in the ghost-zone.” Suggested Danielle.

“In case we ever need to come back here through the back door.” Agreed Sam but neither of them went through the portal. Years of fighting ghosts with Danny and falling through portals other than the one in the Fenton basement had taught Sam that unless you knew where you would come out you never set foot inside another portal, especially not a natural one.

Danielle seemed to be of the same mind and they ended up doing a you first, no you first, fight that ended with Danielle going through the portal. She came back giggling a minute later. “Okay where did it lead?” asked Sam.

“It came out behind a huge ass football in the ghost-zone near the fright knights castle. I can’t believe we didn’t see it sooner.” The girl laughed and it took her a moment to collect herself. “I mean can you be more obvious, bet his second ghost-portal is behind a chees-wheel.”

Sam smiled but couldn’t help crossing off another location on her list where Danny wasn’t. How many more were they going to have to visit before they found him? How would they find him?


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Late again, I blame my non-existing internet at home otherwise I would be updating this on time every week. Oh well.

Watching the speed up videos of his interviews with Phantom, Peabody scratched his chin, he needed a shave. But personal hygiene could wait, he was getting close to breaking the young ghost faster than he had anticipated. His pervious subjects could go on for days threatening him and by the time a week had gone by they would have exhausted themselves to the same point as Phantom.

All be it Phantom seemed to have a different way of thinking compared to the others. No matter how many times he’d tried to get the ghost to tell him what really drove him to save people Phantom’s answer had always been the same. “Because I can.” He never deviated from it, never mentioned the food or the thrill, he was just that good.

That goodness had been what called Peabody to the ghost in the first place. He’d taken up the position as History teacher at Casper High because it brought him closer to the ghosts that he wanted to study. He hadn’t expected to be in a hostage drama with his old college buddy when they met that winter.

He’d seen the ghost rise from under a pile of rubble the initial attack had created. There had been a loud bang from a gun being fired and Phantom had disappeared. The next time he saw the ghost he’d been at the center of the next explosion. The blast had made them all jump and turn to see what was happening, and there he’d been shielding them all from the explosion. A small form in front of a burning inferno.

Peabody hadn’t been able to take his eyes of him even as they ran for the door. He’d watched as the ghost had switched from creating a glowing green shield to a pillar of ice that kept the ceiling from collapsing in on them. Phantom had looked so calm amidst all the fear and confusion, truly a ghost existing outside the emotions that drove humans.

After that he’d spent all of Christmas trying to find out in the less invasive ways who Phantom had been as a human, when he had first appeared and why. The earliest written history he’d found of the ghost had been of him fighting a demon in ancient China. It was no doubt that it was him, the author had included an illustration of both the demon and the hero describing them as Jin and Jang because of Phantoms black clothes and the demons white.

Another script put him in ancient Rome stopping a creature of the underworld from taking over. Again there had been an illustration and again there was the white clad horned monster fighting a black clothed and white haired flying hero.

Turning around to face Phantom he found that the ghost was watching him, his green eyes lidded and dead. “What you want?” he asked before Peabody could say anything and for a moment he was tempted to press the button that would send an eclectic charge through Phantom. He didn’t, after all he wanted the ghost to talk to him not teach him manners.

“You ever been to China?” he asked and the ghost shrugged.

“Can’t say I have.” Peabody pressed the button drawing a scream from the ghost. “Okay okay, maybe, once.” He said after he’d caught his breath.

“When?” Asked Peabody watching Phantom’s expression closely.

“Don’t know, A year ago, maybe two.” Peabody zapped Phantom again listening to the scream go higher in pitch before he let go of the button. “That was the truth.” Whined the ghost and Peabody could see him trying to curl in on himself.

“Have you ever been to Rom?” he asked next.

Phantom nodded but didn’t open his mouth so Peabody gave him a quick jolt to get him talking. “Yes.” Hissed Phantom lowering his eyes.

“When?” Asked Peabody again holding his finger on the button making the cuffs hum ominously.

“Same time as I went to China.” Sighed the ghost and he seemed to have prepared himself for the electrocution this time because he bit his arm to keep himself from screaming. “If you aren’t going to believe me when I tell you the truth then what is the point of asking.” He growled but there was no fire to his words.

“I know that you are lying Phantom. I found records of you in ancient China, old Rome and even Salem during the witch hunts. That tells me that you are lying when you said you were there a year ago.” Explained Peabody.

Lifting his head Phantom blinked at him before he seemed to think about what Peabody had just said. “I guess it would seem like a long time ago if you think of it that way.” He sighed and rested his head against his arm. Peabody put his finger on the button making the cuffs hum in warning. “Go ahead zap me, you wouldn’t understand anyways.”

Peabody pressed the button and watched Phantom scream and jerk uncontrollably until he removed his finger and the electricity stopped. “Then explain it to me.” He ordered his captive and waited for him to go through the pretend gasping for air until he’d recovered enough to speak.

“You ever heard of the ghost-zone?” he asked getting a nod from Peabody. He had heard of it from his suppliers. A parallel dimension to their world where ghosts spawned and would return to if they didn’t move on or get destroyed. “There are portals in to the ghost-zone, have always been. We call the once that are always in the same location on both ends for stable, the Fenton portal is one of them. The other kind is sort of random, it opens at different places, are open for a different amount of time and so on.”

“Guess you call them unstable.” Said Peabody making notes.

“No they are called Natural portals, but they are highly unstable. Not only can’t you predict where they will form but you can’t predict when. And that’s the trick.” Said Phantom closing his eyes and looking like he was going to fall asleep.

“What’s the trick?” Peabody’s finger was placed upon the button again bringing out the hum.

“How you time travel.” Sighed Phantom

That made Peabody think. Maybe Phantom hadn’t lived through all the time between his appearances in history. Maybe he hadn’t appeared to fight the white monster as it had looked, it was more likely that he’d chased after the monster as they travelled through these natural portals. Then the question might be a bit different. “How long ago was it that you died?” asked the man softly.

Speaking gently was another tactic that he used when making his subject give him information. Showing empathy always made them say things they wouldn’t when aggressively questioned.

Phantom however seemed to have figured that out already because he was quiet for a moment before answering. “As long as I’ve been dead.” Which just pissed Peabody off and he zapped the ghost again.

When his screams had quieted down he spoke. “I don’t care for you humor Danny, you will answer my questions or you will regret it.”

Taking a deep breath and stealing himself Phantom raised his eyes and glared hard at him, dots of red glowing inside the green. “Get used to it, I will never tell you what you want to know you bastard.” His voice had changed, gone deeper, colder, bringing a chill to Peabody’s spine.

He electrocuted the ghost again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright a bit short chapter but it’s pretty much the same shit going on for Danny while his friends are looking for him, but things are about to change ^^


	17. Chapter 17

The four teenagers gathered in Tuckers room when the sun was setting that Wednesday evening. The three girls had been out all day looking for Danny and Cody, running in to one ghost or another along the way. Sam had found herself using her Blood Blossom grenades to ward of some ghosts attacking a crowd of teenagers.

Slouching down in the couch beside a curled up sleeping Danielle Sam let out a sigh. “Tell me you got something Tucker.” She groaned striking off the last location on her list.

“It’s not that simple Sam.” Sighed Tucker. He’d put up a laptop on the desk beside him where videos of security cameras all over Amity Park were running. “I have the basis down and now I have to work out the bugs that keeps giving false positives.” The screen on the laptop blinked and Tucker glanced at it before hitting a key and it resumed working. “The program has just as much to learn as I do.” He sighed pushing away from his desk.

“Are you giving up?” asked Valeri who were sitting on Tucker’s bed massaging her feet’s. She had not only helped them look for the missing people and fight ghost but also gone to work at the Nasty Burger.

“I’m not giving up.” Answered Tucker rubbing at his eyes. “I just think we have gone as far as we can on our own.” He glanced at Sam. “How long are we going to tell people Danny is just hanging with us when we have no clue as to where he is?”

Sam scowled at him. “You are talking about reporting him missing.” She accused getting a horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach. “How will we explain that we’ve been covering up the fact that he’s been missing for five days? We can’t tell them why we thought he wasn’t missing or why we haven’t told anyone.”

She watched as Tucker pulled a face and scratched at the back of his head. “We can’t do this alone Sam.” He said glancing over at Valeri asking her for support.

“Don’t look at me. I agree with you both, we can’t find him on our own but telling people would lead complications that puts us all in a bad spot.” She bent her toes making them pop.

“Then we just have to keep going, come up with new places to look, follow their last steeps.” Sam chew on her thumbnail trying to think of something they hadn’t tried yet. Everything from questioning ghosts that might know something, to breaking in to houses sniffing around with every ghost detection device in their arsenal.

Biting his lower lip Tucker glanced at his computer. “What if we didn’t go to the police.” He reached behind him picking up Danny’s phone that had been on his desk charging.

Sam blinked up stupidly at him “My brain isn’t working right now, what are you talking about?” her stomach growled informing her that she hadn’t eaten anything all day. Danielle leaned closer to Sam curling up like a cold ball against her.

Rolling his eyes Tucker opened Danny’s phone and tapped on it before turning it to show Sam a set of tex messages starting with one message saying. “Hi are you alright? //Garcia.”

“Garcia… Why does that name sound familiar.” She asked glancing over at Valeri who shrugged.

Turning the phone around Tucker started typing out a new message. “Because, Garcia is the name of the Tec girl working for the FBI. She was on the phone helping us when we were tracking down The Ripper.”

“Oh,” Said Sam and then it hit her and she sat up straighter, Danielle’s head falling to her lap and she snaked an arm around her. “Oh, the FBI, We could ask them for advice, they know Danny’s identity.”

“That’s a good idea. Don’t they ow Danny for him helping with the prison case?” Said Valeri getting up and stretched her arms before walking over to Tucker watching the phones screen.

“They do and they owe us for helping them in the mall bombing as well.” This might work, they knew the agents and they were willing to help. For the first time in day’s Sam found herself thinking that this might actually work.

The phone played the theme song for Star Wars. “It’s them.” Said Tucker his thumb hovering over the screen, hesitating.

“Come on Tuck.” Sighed Valeri and swiped her finger across the screen. “Hi this is Valeri, Tucker and Sam on Danny’s phone.” She answered having turned on the speaker.

“Hi, This is Garcia, you guys said that you had a problem you’d like our help with.” Said the pep woman on the other end. “Could you be more specific before I call the rest of the team in for un-payed overtime?”

“Long story short.” Began Sam tugging at the sleeves of her shirt. “Danny’s gone MAI for Five day’s and we’ve run out of places to look for him.”

“No one has heard anything from him or seen him. Last time any of us saw him was last Friday during third period.” Added Valeri her eyes on Sam who nodded. They would have to give them all the information they could, everything they’d seen, heard and found out.

“Have you gone to the police?” Asked Garcia and the three exchanged a pained look. As it looked now they should have reported Danny’s disappearance to the police as soon as they suspected him missing. But then again he’d been missing before and turned up in a day or three with an epic story to tell them.

“That is part of the problem.” Said Tucker. “His parent’s don’t think he’s missing because of the tracker software on his phone and the fact that his phone have been with us all the time.” He bit his lip and Sam understood what he was feeling, she had the same twisting feeling in her stomach that made her want to crawl in to a hole and never face reality.

“It’s not like we thought he was missing to begin with.” Continued Sam. “It’s not the first time he’s disappeared for one reason or another. It’s just this is the first time we can’t find him anywhere. We’ve looked all over our world and the ghost-zone but there’s not even a whispered about him.”

“Okay, so in short. Danny is missing, you haven’t called the police and his parents thinks he’s with you lot.” Said Garcia and the teenagers could hear her sigh before the sound of her fingers tapping keys filled the silence. “Alright I’ll see who I can get to help with this. I’ll call you back in an hour, in the mean time I want you to trace where Danny was last seen and come up with a convincing reason why his parents should still be kept in the dark.”

With that Garcia hung up and left the teenagers staring at the phone, the room filling with a heavy silence that wasn’t broken before Mrs Foley knocked on the door. “Tucker hon, if Sam is there tell her that Pamela just called and is wondering where she is. And can you come out from your room at least one time this week.”

“Sure mom.” Called Tucker back turning to his friends hearing his mother walk away. “Okay lets track down where we last saw Danny. I can check the school security cameras for the third period.”

“Then do it.” Said Sam taking her phone out of her pocket finding three missed calls from her mother and a dozen texts from her. She ignored the texts and missed calls looking up the blogs and social media for any mentions about Phantom. “Valeri your armor, can it tell you exactly where Danny was when it pinged him?”

Valeri straightened and moved out of Tuckers way as he turned to his computer. “Give me a sec.” she said and the armor grew to covered. Crossing her arms Valeri leaned back and the screen of her helmet light up by text and symbols.

They spent almost an hour trying to find any trace of Danny from that Friday. Apart from Sam being the last person to see him there was no digital trace of him. Valeri’s alarm that she had taken for Danny could just as well have been any other ghost in school seeing as there wasn’t any video where he showed up after first period.

Garcia called them on Tucker’s computer putting them on face came. “Okay guys I got Rossie, Lewis and Alvez to help in between their work.” The agents sat around a round table in a darkened room. “Did you guys do your homework for me.”

“Yeah.” Sighed Sam absently combing back Danielle’s hair. “The thing is no one has seen him since Friday morning around first period.”

“After that I think I got him on a camera outside of Fenton Works but it’s blurred.” Continued Tucker showing the agents a screen cap of a surveillance camera near Danny’s home it was timestamped 10:48 am.

“That’s the last definite sign of him. My armor registered a ghost at school and it could have been him because there was no attack but that’s all we got.” Finished Valeri leaning against the wall beside Sam.

“Alright and why shouldn’t we inform his parents that he is missing?” asked Rossi making the teenagers cringe. They had put themselves in this situation and would have to deal with the consequences.

“Cus right now they aren’t looking for him. If we tell them then it’s very likely we’d have to tell them about his ghost half and that he is Phantom.” Said Sam biting her lip. It was a weak excuse, but they were Danny’s friends and would keep his secret for him no matter what. “But we think Jazz deserves to know, she’s his sister and a responsible adult.”

The agents sighed and exchanged troubled looks. “You know we can’t keep this secret from his guardians. We like to help but there’s a limit to what we can do if he is not reported missing.” Said Lewis

“We know. Believe us there’s nothing we’d like more than to have Mr and Mrs Fenton’s help. But the sort of help that we’d need from them would involve telling them who Danny is and we can’t do that. He doesn’t have a secret identity to protect his human life from his enemies, they all know he’s human. He keeps his identity secret to protect his parents in some twisted way or another.” Explained Sam her stomach cramping.

Rossi sighed and looked down on a file he had in front of him. “Okay. We need all the information we can get about Danny’s habits. We’ve already got a lot of data from the case last month so there’s something to start with.”

Snapping his fingers Luke pointed at them. “Have you tried calling him?” he asked.

Rolling his eyes Tucker held up Danny’s phone. “Several times, we’ve got his phone right here.”

“No not that one.” Said Luke shaking his head picking up his own phone. “We gave Danny a burner for when he got sent to jail. He said he was keeping it in his ghost form and he hasn’t as far as I know returned it.”

That was news. Sam straightened and listened to the agent read up the number for Tucker who dialed. A minute later her hope was crushed as the call went straight to voicemail. “Maybe it’s because he’s in human form and the signal can’t reach him.” Suggested Valeri and Sam had to agree with her, how else were they going to explain it.

“That’s alright, there’s still a lot of angles we haven’t tried yet.” Said Rossi. “This is how we are going to do this. You guys will be our eyes and ears on the ground and we’ll give you all the support we can. Starting with one of you calling his sister queuing her in to what is going on.”


	18. Chapter 18

The lights were flickering again. As soon as Peabody left the light started flickering. Danny wished they could stop but instead let his eyes close and tried to reach that sleep like place inside his mind that was always cold, always still, always calm.

He sort of felt more stable in that place, less like he was going to fall apart at the seams. It was in that place he could think. “I am stuck.” He said. “Well that’s obvious. You’ve been hanging from those maniacal for a days.”

“Could just be the same day, there’s no way of determining time in this place.” He lifted his eyes and squinted at the computer screens on the other side of the thick glass. “Can’t see shit out there, the screens glass is frosted.” He closed his eyes again returning to the stable soft white winter light.

He knew that it had been more than one day, most likely it had been four or five days, his friends would be looking for him. Yet they hadn’t found him, maybe they weren’t even looking for him. They should have found him just as easily as he found Ember. All they had to do was go up to the Ops center, start the scan and look for the negative space, the places that didn’t register.

They could do it, they should have done it. “But they haven’t found you yet.” Lifting his head Danny opened his eyes to stare at the cuff around his wrists. “You have to get out on your own Fenton so think. Think Freak, you know these inventions as good as anyone.”

The cuffs were not unbreakable, but he would need his ghost powers to break them. And every time he used his powers he would be fried till he couldn’t think straight. He’d tried pulling his hands out of the cuffs, but they were too tight. “Then take the gloves off idiot.” Said a voice in the back of his mind.

Taking a deep breath Danny pulled himself up to sit cross-legged on the ceiling. He bent over his hand’s and used his teeth to pull at the fingers of his right glove. Slowly he got the glove to slid of his hand revealing pale thin fingers that were slightly curled. Dropping the glove he stared at his hand and moved the fingers. He couldn’t feel anything, it didn’t hurt and he saw the fingers move but it was like watching someone else move their fingers.

Danny made sure his right hand had a tight grip around the fastenings for the cuffs before he started pulling the glove of his left hand. A slow hum in the cuffs drew his awareness to the power he was excreting to keep himself up and he fumbled with the second glove. As soon as it was off Danny lost his grip on the cuffs.

Dropping from the ceiling his shoulders screamed at him when the cuffs stopped him in midair cutting in to the now unprotected skin. He stayed dangling for a moment not wanting to do any more.

“Come on Wimp, pull yourself together, the cuffs are loser now. Pull out your hands and smash the wall.” He breathed slow and evenly moving his hands and fingers trying to get them to alien so that he could pull them free. The only problem was that even thou he had more space to move around with it wasn’t enough, his hand’s weren’t shaped to move in that way.

Anger bubbled up in his stomach and with a snarl he moved his hand and finger in a weird way and tugged. It was like his body knew what to do and with a disturbing sound and an even more disturbing feeling that sent shivers down his spine Danny’s hand’s slipped free from the cuffs and he fell to the floor.

Rolling in to a ball Danny pressed his hands to his chest calling ice from his core to cool down the burning feeling. He lifted his hands to look at them when the burning sensation subsided. The skin on the side of his hands and the back of his left were scraped off and bled green ectoplasm. Looking up he could see ectoplasm on the cuffs as well, which was probably what had let him slip out of the cuff, the stuff was slippery, worse than ice even.

Getting to his feet’s Danny found his shoulders screaming in protest of moving and he feel down as pain shot through his right knee. Taking a deep breath Danny got up again staying of his right leg. He was going to take a long hot shower when he got home, or maybe an ice bath, depending how much he hurt. He spent a minute looking through the pockets of his belt but found nothing. Glancing at the table outside the cube he sighed seeing is gear was laying on the table just out of reach.

The lights stopped flickering and Danny froze staring at the door. It didn’t open and he thought he was safe when a gurgling noise made him look down to the drain where water was bubbling up. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up and Danny floated up from the floor. He did not want to touch the water.

Turning his attention to the wall of the cube he started attacking it with ecto blasts that seemed to disperse on impact. Changing tactics he pressed his hands to the wall and plunged in to his ice core spreading the cold throughout the wall. The water rose slowly and steadily, it didn’t freeze from his frost powers making Danny wonder if it was actually water and not something else.

The water had filled more than half the tank by the time frost started blooming on the glass. It was probably taking so long because he was tired, he hadn’t really slept after all. Backing up to the other side of the cube Danny planted his feet on the glass before flinging himself at the frozen wall over and over again.

The cube slowly filled up as the wall started to crack under Danny’s bombardment, his suit graced the water and he felt the electricity. He drew back to the opposite wall drawing on all his power shooting at the frosted wall.

He heard the wall break, saw the crack spread from his point of impact, Then the water reached him and he was once more in a world of pain. Losing the ability to fly, like losing his balance, Danny sank in to the water. One part of him remembered to stop breathing keeping himself from drawing water in to his lungs.

Staring at the crack in the wall as his vision blurred Danny felt his last piece of hope slip out of his fingers. He wasn’t going to be rescued, he wasn’t going to be saved. He’d been a fool to think that anyone would help him.

Drawing back in to that cold place in his core he blocked out everything, wrapped himself in the snowy blanket staring up at the stars above him. “Sirius, Antares, Canopus, Alphard, Regulus, Aldebaran, Procyon” He lifted his hand and pointed to Sirius and drew a line over to Antares. He could point them all out from Polaris at the tail of Ursa Minor to Regulus in the front paw of Leo.

He dreamed about reaching the stars one day, to fly around in the cold vacuum of space. He could do it, he didn’t have to become an astronaut to go to space, he had done it once already, he could do it again. Thou this time he wouldn’t come back down, he would stay in the void, in the darkness. At peace, alone in the nothingness, forever drifting.

Had Danny been aware of his surrounding he would have noticed it when the electricity stopped flowing through him and the cube drained, leaving him curled up on the concert floor.

 

Locking down the last restraint Peabody dragged his chair to the other end of the room and sat down. Removing the thick gloves he rubbed at his eye’s. It had been around sunrise that morning when the alarm went off. The pressure plates under the floor had registered a weight on them. Taking the secure choice he’d activated the failsafe and gone back to sleep letting phantom boil for another three hours for his escape attempt. He had to know that there was no escaping and the only chance he ever had of getting out was co-operation.

 The new restraints were part of the dissection table, binding Phantom by his ankles, wrists and neck to a metal surface that he’d tilted up so that the ghost was standing more or less. The lifeless body had been disturbing to move, its limbs had been like noodles and even if the eyes were open no one was home.

The last test subject had been similar after he submerged her and slowly fried her. But she had recovered fast enough, begging for him to let her go. Phantom wasn’t begging, his head hung, and he’d given up on the pretend breathing making him truly look like a corpse.

“How long are you going to pretend to sleep Danny?” he asked using the name Phantom had given him. In theory the name would be the same as it had been while he was alive, most ghosts had found it hard to part with their names and had either changed it slightly or kept it. Of course, there were exceptions where the ghost’s human identity had been lost long before their actual death. But there was too much personality left in Phantom for him to have lost his human self.

Phantom didn’t move and Peabody picked up the remote pressing the charge button. The low hum seemed to wake the ghost up. He stirred testing the restraints one by one before lifting his head to glare gleaming red eyes at him. “The scary eyes again Phantom, really I am shaking in my boots.”

Stretching his head and rolling his shoulders Phantom hummed in a deep melodically voice. “Pardon me mister but the lad isn’t here right now, would you like to leave a message.” Said the ghost in a distinct British accent.

“Trying to play tricks won’t help you Phantom.” Said Peabody and pressed the button sending a high voltage charge coursing through Phantom.

The ghost stiffened but the eyes never wavered and a moment later he breathed out relaxing as if he wasn’t getting the equivalent of the electric chair. “Was that meant to hurt.” He chuckled. “You’d want to increase the power output to wake the Lad up. He has found a peaceful corner of his mind where you can’t reach him.” He stared in to the distance a smile curling his lips. “Dreaming of space. Such a peaceful place, please do destroy it.”

Blinking at the ghost Peabody took his finger of the button. “What do you mean the Lad Danny?” he asked confused, was the ghost trying to confuse him or was this a different personality inside the ghost altogether?

“Lad, child, boy, Whelp. Whatever people call him. Danny I guess he calls himself.” He got a distant look on his face again the corners of his mouth turning up in a cruel smile.

“Who are you then?” Asked Peabody digging around in his pockets for a note pad. This might be the break in Phantom’s psyche that he wanted. He might actually get some straight answers from him now and not the puns and jokes the ghost had been taking to lately.

“Wouldn’t you like to know.” Hummed the ghost somehow straightening to look down on Peabody. The man pressed the button and got no reaction, Phantom just stared down on him. “The Lad is the one with a weakness to electricity not me.” The ghost looked completely relaxed, mockingly so.

“What’s your weakness then?” asked Peabody increasing the power output on the restraints. He would break the ghosts calm sooner or later it was just a question about time, something he had plenty of.

“My bane lies in the hands of a foolish mortal.” He huffed a note of disappointment in his voice. “A boy who failed to bring it to me when he had the chance.” The eyes flashed with a deeper anger.

Peabody found his mouth suddenly dry and had to swallow before continuing. “When was this?” It was definitely easier getting answers out of this Phantom, only he wasn’t sure they were the once he was after.

Shrugging the ghost gave him a bored look that match the once he often got from his students. “Before the crazy yeti after I had a run around in this bag of meat.” He tilted his head eyeing Peabody as if he hadn’t really seen him before now. “What is it to you, are you going to try and kill me. Sorry to inform you but I am not leaving this host before I get my revenge on it.”

“Your revenge?” repeated Peabody, the ghost was somehow more threatening now fully restrained than he had been hanging of the ceiling. Wishing he’d taken a seat on the other side of the ghost proof glass he found himself shrinking in his chair.

“My revenge. The lad took my revenge from me not only once but twice. He interrupted the pattern, stopped me from devouring them. There for he deserves nothing less than the same as I got, to suffer for an eternity.” He breathed in deeply licking his lips.

Smirking down at Peabody he relaxed and the blazing fire in his eyes died down a bit. “Considering his current situation I guess this can be part of that suffering.” He grinned wider. “Let me kick him out of his hidey hole.” And with that the red glow dimmed down before shifting to a cold piercing blue. His body began twitching, stiffening and his expression changed from one of superiority to pure terror and he screamed.

Glancing down at the power settings on his control Peabody raised an eyebrow and noted down the voltage that was currently coursing through Phantom. He let it go on for a moment before turning it off. Phantom went limp twitching irregularly before he drew a deep breath trying to act like a living being again.

Peabody had time to collect himself as he watched Phantom test the restraints again, more violently this time getting zapped by more electricity whenever he drew on his power.


	19. Chapter 19

Sitting in the humid greenhouse Sam stared at the paper in front of her. She’d been staring at it ever since she came home that evening. It had been a taxing day, not only had she gone a night without sleep but she’d been the one to call Jazz and explain the situation. She hadn’t been happy, but she hadn’t even been angry. Sam had expected her to be angry with them, to blame them for Danny’s disappearance.

It had been a coin toss that had Sam calling Jazz and Tucker talking to the agents. Valeri had been at work all day, both at the Nasty Burger and fighting ghosts. Danielle had gone back to Wishing Hill doing her best tracking down Cody.

Having started her computer Sam had sat down in her room after lunch. Starting the video chat she pressed Jazz caller id and called. She had to wait a while before Jazz picked up. “Hi Sam, Can you just hold for a moment.” She’d said from off camera.

“Sure.” Said Sam her stomach twisting. She didn’t want to talk to Jazz, didn’t want to tell her of their mistake.

Jazz returned to the computer a moment later sinking down in her computer chair with a bowl of instant ramen. “Alright I’m back. What did you want?” She asked stirring the ramen with a pair of chopsticks.

“I was wondering if you had seen Danny lately?” Asked Sam trying to think of a way to break the news to her without slapping the fact that Danny was missing in her face.

Taking a mouthful of noodles Jazz seemed to think about Sam’s question as she ate. “Last time I talked to him was like two weeks ago, after that I haven’t heard from him. He’s probably brooding over the fight he had with mom and dad last Friday. You know Danny can really get stuck on the tiny details. I heard Mom said that he ran out of the house after releasing the ghost they caught. He was angry with them for being who they are.”

Sam stared at Jazz listening to the woman go on. “I mean last time we talked he told me that he was trying to teach mom a lesson by not talking to her. Of course that is incredibly childish but actually not a bad idea ignoring her, showing mom how she made him feel, I mean I would have just suggested for him to talk to her and not be such a drama queen.” She smiled. “Have you notice how Danny tend to do things dramatically?”

Biting her lip Sam nodded and her silence seemed to draw Jazz’s attention. “Hey are you alright?” she asked and this time she waited for Sam to speak.

“We haven’t heard from Danny since his fight with the ghosts in the forest last Friday.” Said Sam feeling like some weight was lifting from her chest. “He is missing. We’ve tried tracking him all week but we can’t find him.”

Jazz was silent for a moment her noodles half way to her mouth before she lowered her hand. “Tell me what has happened?” she asked her eyes intense. And for the first time Sam felt that she had her full attention, not just that she was listening but thinking of something else at the same time, but that she was listening and actually hearing her every word.

She told Jazz what had happened, how they had thought he was just sleeping or taking some time for himself. She told her about finding Danny’s phone in her room and how they had gone to the ghost-zone looking for him only to find nothing. How they then looked for him in the human world with Danielle’s help. She had to explain why Danielle had come to them looking for Danny and then about their efforts to help her find Cody as well.

“You don’t think their disappearances are related, do you?” asked Jazz when Sam had told her how the FBI agents got involved. She had hardly let Sam finish her sentence before she spoke. “I mean they disappeared the same day after both having had a fight with their mothers. There could be a ghost involved that goes after people like Danny and Cody.”

“You mean a ghost that goes after teenagers who shouts at their mom and runs out of the house to avoid the rest of the fight. That sounds like the moral of a child story.” Huffed Sam crossing her arms leaning back in her seat. “Every teenager in the world would have gone missing by now if that was the case.”

“Yeah the likelihood of that happening is almost worse than my brother steeping in to the ghost portal and becoming a half ghost.” Huffed Jazz eating a mouthful of her ramen. She chewed and swallowed.

“Okay I see your point. But we don’t think there’s any connection in any case the agents are looking in to the possibility of one.” Sighed Sam rubbing at her temples.

“And you haven’t told mom or dad yet have you?” Sam shook her head. “That I guess is good.” She sighed putting her bowl of lukewarm ramen to the side. “How are you keeping it secret that he’s missing?”

Averting her gaze Sam’s eyes landed on Danny’s phone. “We pretend he’s with us whenever anyone ask, and whenever anyone looks for him we pretend he’s out. I mean now that I know he had a fight with his parents it makes a lot more sense that they haven’t come looking for him, they probably think he needs some time and space and it being spring break and all makes it a lot easier for them to give him that space.”

Jazz pulled a face. “Yeah I sort of told mom to give him some space over the break.” She combed her fingers through her hair, her eyes focusing on something behind her screen. “Have you talked to Vlad or did you just search his home and leave.”

Wrinkling her nose Sam scratched her nails. “We haven’t talked to him yet. I don’t trust that old ghost any more than I can threaten him.” She could walk in to his office again and demand that he tell them where he was hiding Danny. But the situation didn’t sound right for it to be Vlad. Sure Danny had been angry at his parents and left the house in anger. Vlad could have picked him up and told him he could stay at his place but then Sam and Danielle would have found him.

“Then go to him and ask for his help. I bet he can help you a lot more with the ghost angel and he has got influence in almost every part of Amity Park. He could call in favors and help locate Danny by other means.” Said Jazz her eyes still looking at something above the camera on her computer.

“Okay I’ll talk to him.” Sighed Sam getting that horrible twisting feeling in her stomach again. She was going to come up with a convincing argument to make Vlad help them and then she was going to have to imagen all the different ways he could use her arguments against her and come up with counter arguments as well as reasons he could think of to ignore her and come up with a counter attack for that.

“I don’t suppose you’ve used the Ops center to try and find him have you?” asked Jazz lowering her eyes to look in to the camera. “Mom and Dad have equipment installed there to detect any ghost in town, I don’t know how it works but they make user manuals .”

Blinking Sam jumped out of her seat staring at Jazz’s image. “That’s it.” She shouted. “The improved radar, we can use it, like Danny used it to find Ember. That’s how we will find him. We just have to figure out how to get in to the Ops Center without your parents seeing us and use the hidden data on Phantom and that will tell us where he is.”

“If he’s in Amity Park. He can be anywhere in our world and the ghost-zone. Did you try the boomerang there it could find Danny in the ghost-zone even ten years in the future.” Said Jazz not at all excited. Couldn’t she see that they were going to find Danny.

“I’ll throw the stupidly named tracking device in to the ghost-zone on my way there.” She was about to turn off the computer when Jazz shouted at her to wait.

“What if you run in to mom and dad. You can’t just tell them you are getting something for Danny, they want to know where he is and why he isn’t coming home. You have no reason to go there when he’s with you and he has got every reason to come home.” Sam sat down listening to Jazz. The older girl was right. She couldn’t just come over to the Fenton’s without a reason that wasn’t to use the Ops Center to look for their son.

“What do you want me to do then. Sit on my hand’s and do nothing. I’ve been sitting still all day talking to the agents trying to help them come up with some useful information as to why Danny’s gone missing and it’s starting to sound more and more like he’s been taken by the GIW and if he has then there’s nothing we can do.” She had to remind herself to breath as her ranting went on.

“Okay Sam If the GIW had caught Danny then you would have seen that on the cameras.” Said Jazz speaking calmly. “It’s best if you talk to Vlad to begin with and then the three of you can break in to the Ops center and use the equipment. During the Day it’s likely that Dad is up there working on something so just sit tight and go when it’s dark.”

So that’s what Sam had done. She’d been waiting all day for the sun to set and for time to pass trying to work on something for her mother’s flower arrangement but all she saw was a blank paper and the only thing she could think of was Danny. She wanted to save him, to find him and make things go back to normal. If things could ever be normal.

Putting down her pen and paper Sam got up from her comfortable seat and left the humid greenhouse. The sun was down and a red streak across the sky told her that Valeri had come to pick her up.


	20. Chapter 20

Landing quietly on top of the Ops Center the two girls leaned over the edge of the roof and looked in through the windows. Seeing that Jack Fenton was still awake and in the Ops center the two backed away from the edge. They sat back and exchanged a look.

“Let’s wait.” Said Valeri and Sam nodded in agreement.

They sat in silence for a while watching Amity Park glow in the night. Slowly Sam raise her eyes to look up at the clear sky, the stars looking back at her. She had sat on that roof a couple of times before watching the stars in the night. She lay back and tried to remember the last time she’d been on the roof, the last time she’d watched the stars.

“You know Danny pointed the stars out for me once.” Said Valeri laying down beside Sam. “I don’t know how he remembers them all. I have an easier time remembering places on a map compared to the stars in the sky.”

Smiling Sam lifted her hand and pointed to the tail of the little dipper. “That is Polaris.” She said. “The rest of the stars I can’t remember. You know Danny use to count them from the tip of his tongue. He could stay up all night staring at the sky, he even got an app on his phone to track satellites.”

“I remember, he could name them as well.” Valerie giggled.  “You know I think he made some of the name up.”

“The worst thing is that he isn’t making them up. He honestly knows them by heart.” The smile faded from Sam’s lips. “You know the last time we were up here was before the summer, when we had a moment to rest between ghost fights.” It had been one of those rare days when the only ghost that came around to fight was The Box-ghost. They had stayed up on the roof instead of trying to sleep, it had been a good night thou even more restful than sleep.

“Let’s make sure that the next time we are up here we get Danny to point out the stars for us.” Sighed Valeri and they fell quiet once again.

Sam got up after a while and snuck over to the edge of the roof peaking in. She saw Mr Fenton stretch and she thought he was about to leave when he returned his gaze to the blueprints he was working on. Sighing Sam returned to Valeri and the kept on watching the stars.

“Do you think we can ever find him?” asked Valeri after a while. Sam turned to stare at the darker girl.

A horrible feeling as if something turning in her chest made her growl. “We can and we will.” making Valeri back up. “If we can’t find him no one can. And if he can’t find his way back then he is truly lost and we must do everything we can to get him back.”

Valeri looked away biting her lower lip. “I didn’t mean it in that way Sam. I meant that it’s possible that even if we use the radar we might not find him, he might not want to be found.” She pulled her knees up to her chin. “I wanted Phantom to disappear once, but I never wanted Danny to disappear. I can’t shake this feeling that it’s somehow my fault.”

“You are not the only one feeling that way.” Sighed Sam sitting up. “I was the one who had his phone in my room all weekend and even I didn’t realize he was gone before two days had gone.” She rubbed her shoulders feeling cold. “We are both to blame that’s why we are going to find him.”

They stayed quiet for a while longer before Valeri got up and walked over to the edge of the roof before bending over and looking in through the window. “He’s gone now, let’s go in.” She reported getting up and the two walked over to the hatch in the roof.

Climbing down in to the Ops center Sam and Valeri tried to be as quiet as possible but someone, likely Mr Fenton, had put a cola can on the lower steps of the ladder. It fell over making a loud noise spilling what was left of its content on the floor. The two looked at each other. “Blame it on a ghost?” Suggested Valeri.

Nodding Sam took the last steps and walked over to the screens and controls for the radar. She didn’t have to look for the on switch she already knew where it was. Logging in to the computer was easy she knew all Danny’s passwords. Getting the radar to work however was harder than Danny had made it look. She didn’t know how to read the data that was showing on the side of the screen or how to search for specific signatures.

“What’s wrong?” Asked Valeri looking over Sam’s shoulder. “Is it that hard?”

“You can give it a try if you want.” Said Sam stepping to the side. She let Valeri try and figure out how to work the radar as she walked over to the bookshelf.

Grabbing a binder she walked over to the table in the center of the room and started reading. She couldn’t understand how the notes of scribbled equations could be a user manual. Al thou she found some useful information that showed her how to read the data and how to specify searches so it wasn’t a total waste.

“I give up, how do they ever make anything that works in this place.” Groaned Valeri walking over to Sam. “What’s that you reading?” she asked.

“This.” Smiled Sam walking over to the controls pressing a few buttons. “This is the user manual.” She pressed start and the screen light up showing a map of Amity Park, waves of green came from the center of the map where Fenton Works lay.

“Oh, you could have told me there was one.” Said Valeri watching the screen with Sam. “So this will show us where Danny is right.” A dot appeared on the map followed by another dot and another after that.

“Maybe.” Said Sam typing in a command for the computer and the list on the side of the screen changed. Using the manual Sam did her best deciphering what the random letters and numbers meant. “That’s a level 2 ghost, so is the three around it. That’s a level 1 and the others are hardly worth mentioning.” She sighed. “Danny is stronger than them, we have to change the search.” She sighed.

Typing in another command the search changed. Sam kept it up till she couldn’t come up with any more ideas. “He’s not here.” She said her words sounding hollow. Her eyes were burning. This had been their last hope of finding him and there was nothing, not even a trace of him.

“Let’s go.” Sighed Valeri sounding disappointed. “We can talk to Vlad in the morning and see if he’s got any information we can go on.” She moved towards the ladder.

Sam stared at the screen pressing search again and again, this couldn’t be the end of the line, it just couldn’t, they were meant to find Danny, Clockwork had told them that they were. The screen showed a 0% hit and she kicked the panel with her steel-toed boot making a loud noise. Valeri jumped and turned around her foot on the lowest step of the ladder.

“Have you gone crazy, you are going to wake the Fenton’s.” She hissed shooting a quick look over at the trapdoor down to the house.

“This isn’t right, Why can’t we find him.” She kicked the panel again this time making a visible dent in the metal. There was only one reason why they couldn’t find him, he didn’t want to be found, he wanted them to stop looking and leave him alone.

“Sam.” Hissed Valeri taking her by the elbow. “We need to go.” Sam slammed her hand down on the off button. If Danny didn’t want to be found then she would stop looking for him. Let him come back whenever he wanted.

She stalked up the ladder and waited for Valeri to take her back home. The other girl gave her a questioning look when she came up closing the roof top hatch. Sam shook her head. “Let’s just go.”


	21. Chapter 21

‘How did that old saying go again?’ Wondered Danny, Something about a cat or was it the frying-pan and fire. He stared at his right hand. The blocks of the table he was strapped down to forced his hands in a 90 degree angle giving Peabody a good angle to shove the spikes under his nails.

Ectoplasm was dripping from his fingertips. The fact that Danny couldn’t feel anything in his right hand had worked to his advantage. He’d pissed Peabody off, they guy had even punched him in the face and Danny had laughed. Sure it was stupid to laugh in the guy’s face but it felt good doing it.

When the guy started on his left hand things stopped being funny and he wanted nothing more than to crawl back in to the cold dark corner of his mind once more. Peabody kept up his questioning, shoving the spikes deeper under Danny’s nails every time he refused to answer or made a joke. It didn’t help telling him the truth he didn’t believe him any ways and getting to close to the truth would tell the man who he was.

Danny didn’t know how long the man kept shoving and twisting the spikes, he stopped listening after a while and drifted off. That’s when Peabody began zapping him with electricity again waking him right up. “You aren’t getting bored of my questions now are you Danny?” he asked in the same tone of voice he used to scold Danny when he fell asleep in his class.

“Try changing the subject, not even the Dead will stay awake for these questions.” Snarled Danny trying to keep his weight of his right leg, his body was twitching and jerking from the shock. Peabody gave him a sweet smile and twisted one of the spikes drawing a prolonged scream from Danny’s throat.

Smiling at Danny Peabody steeped back crossing his arms. “You’re right, those questions are boring how about, your name?” Danny gave him that bored teenager look, something all teenagers mastered in school. “Yes Danny I’ve asked you that before but let’s take it again. What was your name when you were alive.”

“You keep calling me by my name yet you want me to tell you.” He laughed dryly. “Danny, that’s my name Danny Phantom.” Peabody twisted the spike shoving it deeper in under his nail. Trying to get his body to relax instead of tensing up Danny bit his thong to keep himself from screaming.

Shrugging Peabody scratched his chin. “Still keeping to that are we. Oh well how old were you?” Again Danny gave him the I don’t give a shit look and Peabody twisted one of the spikes. “Do I have to repeat myself every time I ask a question.” Still biting his lip Danny shook his head. “Good, then tell me how old you were when you died?”

Taking short deep breaths Danny stretched his neck as far as he could, the collar around his neck was too tight. “Fourteen.” He hissed closing his eye’s waiting for the pain to kick in. It never came. Opening his eyes Danny saw Peabody smile back at him.

“Fourteen, that explains the boyish appearance.” His finger hovered over the button that would give Danny another jolt of electricity. “What year where you borne?” Danny shook his head, he didn’t want to tell him, he didn’t want him to know. Knowing his name was bad enough even if it was just half of it, but what year he was borne, after that he would be able to figure out what his full name was and then maybe even who he was. No no he couldn’t say he couldn’t.

Peabody reached for the spikes. “2000 okay.” Blurted Danny before he could stop himself. His heart had stopped in his throat and he held his breath waiting. He was doomed, now this monster would have everything he needed to figure out who he really was and expose him. What would happen next, would he give him over to his parents so that they could experiment on him. Or was he going to tell them, was he going to tell everyone.

Crossing his arms Peabody looked Danny up and down again as if seeing him for the first time. “Bloody millennial are you. I guess that explains your general lack of respect for authorities. Suppose you think you don’t have to work for your future. Sorry thought, past tense seeing as you didn’t live long.” He frowned up at Danny. “What did you want to be when you grew up, one of those youtube-lets players, or a pop star.”

Shaking his head Danny tried, not for the first time, to pull out of the restraints. Peabody saw that and shoved a spike deeper in to Danny’s flesh, drawing a high pitch scream from him as pain coursed through him even worse than the electrocutions. He felt the pitch of his voice changed and bit down on the emerging wail. He didn’t want to kill the man, wailing would do that, it might even bring the roof down on them which was not going to help anyone.

“Did you even think about a future Danny. Did you even imagen that you would get a job?” Asked Peabody twisting the spike.

Danny felt tears roll down his cheeks. “Yes-“ Whispered Danny afraid that if he spoke up the wail would escape his throat. If it did he would turn back to his human form in one way or another and then he would be screwed.

“Speak up, what was your dream Ghost boy, did you want to be a super hero like the once in the comic-books?” Peabody reached for another spike.

“Astronaut.” Said Danny in a barely audible whisper.

Twisting the spike Peabody leaned in closer to Danny. “You have to speak a little louder.” He said and there was something like enjoyment in the way he said it.

“I wanted to be an astronaut.” Repeated Danny his eyes fixed on the hand reaching for the spike in his index finger.

Blinking Peabody took a step back. “Alright not what I expected.” Rolling his eyes Danny relaxed a bit, the man wouldn’t be able to twist the spikes as quickly standing two feet’s away. And he was apparently not as bright as he could have been, after all Danny had been repeating the names of stars and the man hadn’t figured out his love for them yet. “Don’t get comfortable Danny, we are just scratching at the surface.” Mused Peabody holding his thumb to the button that made the restraints hum with power and Danny stiffened.

“I admit I don’t know a lot about space, what made you want to become an astronaut?” he asked taking up a pen and his note book from the chair he’d placed at the opposite end of the cube.

Danny bit his lip and stayed quiet. Of course he wasn’t allowed to refuse a question and Peabody sent electricity coursing through him before he knew what hit him. He kept his mouth shut however, he didn’t want to tell the man that he’d wanted to become an astronaut ever since he was a child and his mother had pointed out the stars for him. He wasn’t going to tell him about the time he thought he saw a meteor and his mom had told him it was a satellite, she’d explained to him what a satellite was and pointed out a space station in orbit explaining that astronauts flew up to space and had even walked on the moon.

Peabody shoved the spikes deeper in to Danny’s fingers and he screamed. “I can always take that information out of you later whether you want to or not. This is just the least painful and damaging way.” Shaking his head Danny glared down at the man trying to convey all the hatred he felt for him. Giving him a simple smile Peabody shrugged and let go of the spikes. “Very well then let’s talk about the people who were close to you. Did you have any parents?”

Again Danny refuse to speak and got punished for his silence. “Yes.” Hissed Danny in response hating himself even more for opening his mouth.

“Siblings?” He nodded wishing Jazz was there to beat the crap out of this monster in front of him. “Friends?” His hand moved towards the spikes.

“Yes.” Answered Danny fast his stomach twisting as he spoke.

“Who were they.” Danny bit his thong refusing to answer. He got punished of course. Keeping the scream down he knew that he wouldn’t be able to keep this up. He had to get away, dig himself back into the dark corner of his mind before he did something he would regret. “Come on now we’ve been through this before.” Sighed Peabody shoving the nail deeper making spots appear in Danny’s vision. “Tell me the names of your friends, I bet they would love to know that your spirit still wonders this earth.”

Danny’s lip curled up and he spat in the mans face. His friends already knew he was alive, they were there when he died and they would come for him, they always did. Pain blacked out his senses for a moment as Peabody drove the spikes even deeper in and twisted them. He clamped down on the scream and the next moment electricity coursed through him again, setting fire to his already screaming nerves. “What’s the point of these attics Danny, you can just tell me and I won’t have to hurt you.”

Sighing Peabody paced the small space in front of Danny letting him catch his breath. He turned to face Danny his eyes once again searching. “How did you die?”

Swallowing Danny suddenly found his mouth dry. He stared back at the man before lowering his eyes to the remote in his hand. “Press that button and you’ll know.” He croaked, his voice was breaking, it was a wonder it’d lasted so long with all the screaming he’d done.

Looking down at the remote Peabody lifted it to point at Danny who took a deep breath before the electricity played havoc with his nerves reminding him not for the first time of his own death. He waited for Peabody to lift his finger, to make it stop. The torture went on longer than it had before and the power suddenly increased drawing the scream from his lungs. He could see Peabody stare at him in fascination as if he wasn’t killing a living being.

Danny wasn’t even aware of the shift when it happened. His voice changed like it had that first time and the wail erupted from his throat unstopping and merciless. He let it out, screamed for all it was worth. He didn’t even care when the pain stopped or when the man put his hands over his ears, he wasn’t a man anyways he was a monster, a beats, worse even that the ghosts.

Wave after wave hit the walls of the cube, forcing Peabody to the floor where he curled up on his side trying to protect himself as the ceiling and walls started breaking. The cube collapsed in on itself, a chunk of it his Danny on the side of the head drawing ectoplasm but it didn’t stop him from wailing.

He glared at the wall’s of the round room and could see the cracks forming. His vision blurred and grew darker. Something at the back of his mind told him to stop and he did sinking in to the darkness. He was exhausted, all he wanted was to sleep, to be alone, to be free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow that went on, I honestly had this planned from the moment when I started writing two years ago, which is also when I first started reading fanfic, but dame I did not expect to become this obsessed with writing them myself. I hope people are enjoying this story so far it’s almost at the end so keep up. And as always feel free to leave a kudos or a comment it always makes my day.


	22. Chapter 22

Getting up late in the morning Sam got dressed before walking down to the kitchen. Her parents were both sitting at the kitchen table a cup of coffee in front of them each. Her dad was reading the newspaper, however many times she told him that a physical newspaper was a waist of paper he always insisted on reading it instead of the one on the internet. Pamela had drawings and plans spread over half the table a pen in one hand and a phone in her other.

“Morning.” Sighed Sam opening the fridge getting her soymilk. She put it on the counter and got a bowl.

“It’s past morning dear.” Greeted Pamela scribbling in her planner. Sam got her muesli and filled half her bowl before purring the milk over it. “Did you make me the flower arrangements for the party tomorrow?”

Filling a mug with water she put it in the microwave and turned to face her mother. “Sure I have made some it’s in my greenhouse.” She said, after getting home that night she’d taken out her frustration on flower arrangements instead of breaking stuff. Working with the flowers had cooled her down and her anger had settled but she wasn’t as worried about Danny as she had been before.

“Wonderful dear, Thank you for the help.” She didn’t even look up from her work and Sam found it somehow comforting. They would mostly speak to her when they wanted something from her or when she did something they didn’t approve of. The microwave pinged and she got her mug out dropping a teabag in to it before bringing her breakfast over to the table.

“What have you got planned for today, more gaming with your friends?” asked her grandma rolling in to the kitchen on her scooter. She sent Sam a wink saying in her own way that she knew they weren’t playing games and Sam was pretty sure she didn’t know what they were actually doing.

“Likely, we were planning on watching Star Wars as well.” Said Sam thou she had other planes. After having slept on it she’d decided on listening to Jazz and talk to Vlad, thou she wasn’t in a hurry to meet him.

The rest of breakfast was consumed in silence. Her parents finished their coffee before her Dad left to do work and her mother left to finish her preparation for her social gathering. “Have a good day Sam.” Said her grandma before rolling out of the kitchen and Sam could hear her bowling down stairs a moment later.

Taking her time eating her breakfast and getting ready to face humans Sam found herself stalling and she hated it when she stalled. Putting on her jacket Sam texted Tucker letting him know that she was going to meet Vlad.

Shouting a good bye to her family Sam left. Walking down the street she checked and rechecked her blood blossom gear. The gear wouldn’t cause guards to stop her like the Fenton gear would, hers were after all made from natural material. She never wore her blood blossom gear around Danny except for the hairpin the rest could mess with him because of his “allergy”.

The air was crisp and walking in a fast pace Sam kept herself warm without a winter jacket. It didn’t take her long to get to the town hall. Unlike last time she was there Sam didn’t stomp in, she told the receptionist that she was there to see the mayor and when she was told he was busy she shrugged and sat down in one of the waiting chairs. “I have time.” She said in the Manson way of not taking No for an answer.

Having taken a book with her Sam read as she waited, eventually the receptionist told Vlad that she was there and after that it wasn’t long before she was told she could see him. Putting her book back in her bag she took out a smoke-grenade prepped with powdered blood blossom.

Walking in to the mayor’s office she closed the door behind her before turning to the man behind the heavy dark wood desk. He was as always dressed in an Italian suit, a red tie around his neck and the silvery hair pulled back in to a ponytail at the back of his neck. He was typing away at a mac book with a sticker of his own face over the apple symbol. Walking up to the desk Sam crossed her arms and stared down at the man.

The game of being ignored until he deemed her interesting enough to acknowledged was an old one and she’d experienced it before. So she stood there with a judging look on her face watching the man work till he finally lifted his head and looked up at her. “Samantha, my what a pleasant surprise.” He said giving her what counted as a charming smile that never reached his eyes.

“Yeah it’s not like you don’t have cameras around the building that lets you see whoever comes and goes.” She responded getting a shrug from Vlad.

“What brings you here Samantha, want me to save Daniel from his own troubles again?” Closing his computer he eyed Sam as she tried to come up with an answer. He seemed to come to his own conclusions because he leaned back and crossed his arms. “Don’t tell me you came all the way here and have nothing to say?”

Lifting her chin Sam gave the man the death glare. She didn’t want to speak to him, she had no reason to believe he hadn’t taken Danny. But she had promised Jazz she would do it. “You haven’t seen Danny around lately?” She asked carefully watching the man’s reactions.

Scratching his chin Vlad’s eyes unfocused and goosebumps started crawling up Sam’s arms. “Well he’s not in town. Why do you ask.” He said offhand focusing his eyes on her again. There was something in the certainty he said it that made Sam believe him and at the same time question him.

“How do you know he’s not in town?” she asked. “Did he tell you he left town?”

“Always the sceptic.” Sighed Vlad. “I know he’s not in town miss Manson, Why are you looking for him here shouldn’t his friends know where he is. Or don’t he tell you everything anymore?” he leered down on her something impressive since he was sitting down.

Shaking her head Sam turned to leave. “Why did you break in to my house Miss Manson?” asked Vlad and Sam froze in her steps. “I have a human security system as well as a ghost. I watched you and my daughter walk through the house looking for something, I guess you were looking for Daniel. Makes me wonder why?”

Biting her lower lip Sam turned around. She had promised Jazz to ask for his help. So she should just do it, just ask and be done with it, he wouldn’t help her anyways, Vlad wasn’t that sort of a man. “Because no one has seen or heard from Danny all week, we thought you’d taken him so that’s why we went look for him at your place.”

“And that’s why you are here looking for him. It is truly hurtful that you’d think I’d ever hurt little Daniel.” He smiled. “After all the boy is doing a terrific job hurting himself already.”

Sam growl and took a quick steep forward. She almost lost her balance as the floor started shaking and watching Vlad’s face she saw surprise as he looked all around. It took Sam a moment to realize that it wasn’t just the room that shaking but the whole building. She could hear car alarms wail over the rumble from the ground and the crash of glass.

There was a cracking sound and Vlad rose from his seat. Sam saw books fall out of the bookshelves and paintings crash to the floor followed by vases and anything else that was too close to the edge of the surface it stood on. Vlad suddenly flung out a hand and chills went up Sam’s arm as he turned her intangible in time to saver her from being crushed by the chandler.

He pulled her through the desk so that she was standing beside him. They stared as another set of books fell from the shelf and the room grew still once more. As if the world was settling back Sam could feel her heart beat hard against her chest. She had never experienced an earthquake before, she’d heard people explain it, been told how terrifying it was when the world shook and things fell down around them and this was the same.

“Interesting.” Hummed Vlad still holding on to Sam’s hand as he looked around the room.

“That was an earthquake right?” asked Sam jerking her hand out of his grip.

Vlad turned to stare at her as if she was blind. “That, Miss Manson was not an earthquake.” He said as if it was obvious. He turned to the phone on the desk pressing the button that called to his secretary. “Cancel my appointments for today, something important just came up.”

He lifted his finger from the button, it didn’t even take a second before the secretary responded. “Mayor sir, you can’t the phones are ringing, people wants to speak to you. They all want to know what you are going to do.”

Growling Vlad pushed his fingers through his hair. He pressed the speak button again. “Then I suggest you take notes, I’ll be back this evening.” He hissed making Sam’s skin crawl. Taking a deep breath Vlad turned to Sam his eyes completely red.

Sam gasped, the man grabbed her arm and her stomach turned, her eyes felt like they were trying to follow things that move to fast. The next moment she found herself back in Vlad’s lab, thou it was more or less swaying. “Sit down, the dizziness will pass.” Said Vlad pushing her down in to a chair before walking over to a large computer screen and console.

“What are we doing here?” asked Sam pressing her hand’s to her eyes waiting for her head to stop spinning. She felt seasick, something she knew of after having been forced on to boats by her parents.

“I told you Samantha that was not an earthquake.” He snapped his fingers and the room light up. “Maddie, give me a full analysis of the seismic activity in Amity Park starting ten minutes ago.”

A holographic projection of Maddie Fenton appeared beside the screen, her expression stale, a smile plastered on to her lips. “Running diagnostics now, dearest.” She said in a emotionless voice.

“If that wasn’t an earthquake then what was it?” Asked Sam rubbing her head, the seasickness was settling down, yet her heart was still racing from the earthquake.

Turning to her Vlad crossed his arms. “You’ve heard it before, haven’t you? The rumble of the ground, the shaking of the very air you breath. I only know one ghost that can bring that effect to the world without being in earshot. As do you.”

Sam’s mouth was dry as she thought of what Vlad had just said. Something in his words struck a chord that made her think of Danny’s ghostly wail, he was the only ghost that had that power. If one didn’t stand in the path of his wail the air would vibrate, the ground would shake and one couldn’t hear anything else but the wail. Her phone started ringing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I intended for this chapter to go on a bit longer but this is a good place to stop for now. As always hope you’ve enjoyed the story so far you won’t have to wait long for the next chapter.


	23. Chapter 23

Waiting for his AI to analyses the data Vlad listened to Sam’s conversation with the tecno-geek. “I’ve been calling that number once every hour, you know just in case. I mean it was just a though in case he ever turned the phone on.”

“I get that Tucker what is it you want to tell me?” asked Sam impatiently her foot was tapping the floor. Her eyes flashed over at Vlad before returning to her phone.

“I’m telling you that we are triangulating his position based on what towers the signal bounces off of. It will take time if he doesn’t pick up but we are two brilliant hacker working on this.” Said Tucker and concentrating Vlad could hear his fingers tapping away at his keyboard. “How did your meeting with Vlad go? Is he going to help us find Danny?”

Sam turned her eyes on Vlad, he could just imagen what she was thinking. That they had no reason to trust each other, that he was only thinking of his own best, what he had to gain. That wasn’t true however, he loved the boy like his own son and like a father he would let Danny do his own mistakes, let him dig his own grave as one would say. That was why he let Danny make his sorry little mistakes, he’d offered him guidance and training. The boy had turned him down but Vlad still watched over him.

The boy’s wail was always a last resort, he never used it if he could avoid it. Having heard it as well as felt it Vlad knew the boy was in danger yet he still couldn’t feel his presence. Being un able to feel the Danny’s ghostly core in the city, yet hearing his wail was like a call for help. Vlad wasn’t the sort of person to leave Danny when he called for help, that would be foolish, like ignoring a chance to win him over.

“I don’t know, we sort of got interrupted by that…” Vlad raised an eyebrow wanting to hear how she was going to explain the wail. “Earthquake, it wasn’t really an earthquake Vlad think it was Danny’s wail.”

There was a pause at the other end of the line before Tusker spoke again. “Does he know where the earthquake came from. If we combine that information with what we get from the phone we might find him.”

Sam’s eyes never left Vlad who nodded. “He’ll help us.” She said turning away. “He’s already trying to locate the origin of the earthquake.” Nodding Vlad turned to the computer screen watching his AI work. He could follow the calculations as they started coming in.

Listening to the conversation Vlad heard Valeri on the other end before his AI turned to him with that broad smile on her face. “Analysis complete sweet-cake.” She chirped. “Would you like me to summarize for you honey?”

Rolling his eyes at the simple minded computer Vlad nodded. “Go ahead.” He sighed, it wasn’t easy building a functioning AI, the more human emotions he added the more unstable it got.

The AI stepped to the side holding up a hand pointing to the screen where a map of Amity Park appeared. “The earthquake registered as a 4.8 on the Richter Scale. I managed to locate the epicenter of the seismic activity to an area close to the suburbs.” A circle appeared in an area covering 20 blocks within which were both the school, library and Nasty Burger. “upon further analysis it is shown that the-“

“Mute.” Sighed Vlad waving away the AI. He turned to Sam who was staring silently at him. “What have your friends got?” he asked walking up to her.

Of course Sam was like Daniel and would refuse to tell him anything if she thought he would use it against them. She set her jaw glaring at him. “Hey Tucker is the signal coming from the library, Nasty Burger or the School?” she asked and Vlad heard the person on the other end of the phone type.

“I haven’t narrowed it down that precisely yet, the library, nasty Burger and Casper High are all within the city.” Hummed Tucker and concentrating a bit harder Vlad could hear another voice much higher pitched talk in the background.

“That helps a lot, give me a sec I’m checking with the guys they might have something.” The voice was drowned out by a noise on the other end of the line and Sam hung up.

“Thanks for your help Vlad, I’ll see myself out.” Said Sam turning to the door. Vlad let her walk, after all she would give him the information he wanted soon enough.

Returning to his computer Vlad picked up an Xbox controller and stabbed a button with a spider logo on it. The screen changed to show the entrance to his house. Waiting a moment Vlad saw Sam walk out the front door and set of at a jog towards her friend Tucker.

Smiling Vlad made the spy-spider let go of the wall and fly over to land on Sam’s backpack once more. Leaving the console Vlad got himself a chair and a proper cup of well roasted coffee after having made sure that the spider had a proper grip on the backpack. As he returned Sam had made her way to the residential area where the Foley’s lived.

Sipping the coffee Vlad watched as Sam knocked on the door to the Foley house giving Mrs Foley a quick greeting and was halfway up the stairs when the woman asked her why she looked like she’d run all the way there from her home. “Cus that what I did.” Said Sam before taking the last steps up the stairs and turning in to Tuckers room.

The room looked much like Vlad’s office did after the earthquake. Things that hadn’t been heavy enough or stuck to their surface had fallen over, mostly that had been figurines of Anime girls, books, mugs and glasses. Sam greeted Valeri who was sitting in the computer chair watching Tucker on the floor over by the closet.

Moving the spider to land on the lamp on the ceiling Vlad got a better view of what the boy was doing. He apparently had a server hub in his closet with glowing blue discs between them and no apparent sign of ventilation. “What are you doing?” asked Sam dropping her backpack on the couch.

“Making sure that nothing got damaged or shook lose.” Said the boy sitting up and taking a screwdriver from a box. “Did Vlad give you any more information?”

Sighing Sam shook her head and leaned against the couch. “No, how about you did the FBI come up with some new insight we can go on?” asked Sam peeking Vlad’s interest. He knew Danny and his friends had a relationship with the BAU in the FBI after their trip to Chicago that fall. It had been interesting to learn that Danny trusted those humans with his secret where he didn’t even trust Vlad. And now his friends had asked them for help finding him, they surly was desperate.

“Give them a moment, Garcia said she’d call back in half an hour.” Said Valeri pointing to the computer screen where a program was running flicking through what looked like security footage from the Nasty Burger.

“Alright.” Grunted Tucker sitting up. “Every screw is tightened and all the cables are in place. Just imagen what would have happened if a spark sapped the coolers.” He gave his friends a crocked smile.

“You are playing with fire there, you know that.” Said Sam exchanging a look with Valeri.

“You mean I’m playing it cool.” Grinned Tucker but no one laughed at the joke. “Though crowd.” He walked over to the computer tapping a few key’s. A call icon appeared on the screen. “Oh they are calling.” Smiled Tucker pressing enter on the keyboard.

A blond woman, with fluffy cat-ears on her head and glittery pink glasses appeared on the screen. “Alright Ghostbusters, my friends put their brilliant minds together, wow and behold we believe the school is the best place to look for Danny. You wonder why when you’ve already looked there.” The teenagers nodded listening eagerly. “It’s because that was the last place you say you registered him, it’s within the area the earthquake was registered in and because of the spring break there’s no one in the school.”

Tucker had started typing at his key’s as the woman talked, the chat window minimized and three more opened showing video feeds of the schools corridors. Vlad leaned in toning out the woman’s voice zooming in with the spider’s camera on the computer screens. He had access to the same feed seeing as he was the one who put them up but he wanted to see what the children were looking at.

They talked to the woman for a minute longer before she wished them good luck and hung up. Tucker stopped his flicking through the corridors cameras and leaned in closer. “Hallo.” He said and typing away at his key’s all other windows disappeared, replaced by lines of white code on black background.

“What have you found?” asked Sam leaning over his shoulder to look.

Tucker pointed to the screen and the camera that could be seen on the feed. “I know every camera there is in school, this is a new one.” His fingers flew over his keyboard. “And would you look at that it’s not on the network.”

“Meaning someone else set it up.” Said Valeri pointing to the door under the camera. “See that doorframe. Our school doors doesn’t need steal frame.”

“And our school is not high teck enough to have electric locks on the door to the cellar.” Noted Sam exchanging a look with the others.

“I go check it out.” Said Valeri her armor crawling out from the bands around her wrists. “You two stay here, keep an eye out for me.”

“Always. I tell you when we finds out who’s been using that door.” Said Tucker cursing. “The bastard is an expert at hiding his face, like some secret agent from those movies.”

Finishing his coffee Vlad got up and turned in to his ghost form. Taking a deep breath he closed his eyes and imagined the front of the school, himself hovering over the ground. Flicking his mind in a familiar manner Vlad stomach tugged. Opening his eyes he found himself where he wanted to be hovering over the front stairs.

Floating forward Vlad caught a glimpse of something red out of the corner of his eye. Sighing he lifted his hand forming a shield as the Red-huntress fired on him. The blast hit the shield dispersing as if it had been water. “I should have guessed you were behind this Vlad.” The girls voice was dripping with venom as she came closer all her weapons stayed fixed on him.

“Please girl. If I wanted to take Daniel I wouldn’t keep him in the school.” He floated over to the side pointing at the door with his hand like a gentleman. “After you my dear Huntress.” He smile getting a narrow eyed glare from Valeri.

“And let you stab me in the back, I don’t think so. Please go ahead and know that I will shot you if you try anything.” Growled Valeri her weapons glowing bright read with charged power. Dramatic as always and as full of rage as she had been when he first recruited her only instead of aiming her anger at Phantom it had shifted to him. He should have expected it but she should still feel grateful to him for making her the hunter she’d become.

Tilting his head to Valeri agreeing to her terms. He went intangible and phased through the front doors of the school hearing the girl growl behind him. She pushed open the door breaking the lock to follow him.


	24. Chapter 24

The ringing in his ears was the first thing Peabody became aware of, next was the splitting headache and his protesting muscles. Dust tickled his throat and he began coughing a taste of dirt and blood. Rolling over Peabody stared up at the broken ceiling dust was slowly falling, the lamps were flickering.

Turning his eyes on Phantom he felt a sudden hatred for the ghost rise in him. He’d gone easy on the young ghost, treated him like something nearly human. The ghost should have been powerless, his last attempt at escape should have been the last, that’s what the readings said and yet. The sudden sound wave had hit him harder than a speeding car.

Thinking about it he should have expected something like that, having seen the videos from when the ghost freed Ember he should have known Phantom had some trick up his sleeves. Watching him now Peabody still couldn’t understand that there was something so terrifying hiding under that young face. He looked so peaceful, like he was sleeping if it wasn’t for the glowing red eyes staring down on him.

That was right, the other personality in the boy. The one that couldn’t be harmed and enjoyed Phantom’s torment. “What are you staring at?” Spat Peabody sitting up rubbing his face.

The judging red eyes blinked at him before softening to a icy blue. “Not a word hu. You are not going to talk to me you brat. Why are you still here, you could have run away.” He pushed himself to his feet’s stumbling over to the table the ghost was strapped to. “You are just patronizing me now. Showing off how great you are compared to us humans.” Finding the latch on the back of the table, he tilted it sharply so that Phantom was horizontal. “I was going to drag this out for another week, give you a chance to tell me what I wanted to know.”

Turning to his desk where his computer still stood, the screen’s a monotone blue his eyes feel on the old phone that was blinking. Stumbling over broken pieces of wall and concrete Peabody stopped by the desk lifting the phone to stare at the caller id. He had to read the three letter word twice making sure he wasn’t seeing things. “FBI what shit is this?” he turned staring at Phantom, ether the ghost was playing tricks on him using some sort of ghost phone but the thing seemed solid as if from the human world. Which meant that it was actually the FBI calling, or someone else and the kid just called them FBI.

Shaking his head Peabody sent the caller to voicemail. Putting down the phone he started looking through the drawers in his desk collecting the items he would need. Getting a tray he put the instruments on it before looking through the rubble under the desk finding his bag where he had his reserve laptop.

Setting up the computer and the instruments on a desk, similar to the once in the classrooms above, it even had the typical student graffiti carved in to it. “I believe you saw this thing in action back around new year. I’ve invented it, it’s pretty ingenious. Instead of me having to ask you questions and get your lies back this will draw the answers out of you.” He smiled lifting a hair trimmer. “It’s not going to hurt, not after I cut open your scull and put these in to your ecto brain.”

The ghost wasn’t even looking at him, his eyes were just staring in to nothing, he wasn’t even listening. “You know the Fenton’s say a ghost doesn’t have a brain but thinks with their core, but their memories are stored in the brain.” He stared the trimmer. “Especially the memories of their past lives, that’s why they have a brain.”

Putting the trimmer to his temple a loud noise made him look up. He stopped the trimmer listening. He heard the sound of dust falling from the cracks and the crackle of crumbled concrete under his feet’s. Nothing, he’d probably just imagined it, his ears were still ringing after all. Starting the trimmer again Peabody turned the boy’s head to the side starting cutting down the white hair.

Having cut away a chunk of the hair on the left side another loud noise made him look up. After a moment of not hearing anything else he returned to cutting away the ghosts hair. He didn’t take all of it, he didn’t need to. Just the left side, enough to get at larger parts of the skull open.

Putting away the haircutter Peabody picked up a scalpel pressing it in to the temple drawing red droplets of blood. Frowning Peabody lifted the scalpel blinking. Rubbing his eyes he stared at the blood as it turned green. Shaking his head, telling himself he’d just imagined it because of the head injury he put the scalpel back against the ghost’s cold dead skin.

 

Floating forward along the empty corridors Vlad thought the school had an empty house vibe about it. There was something unnerving about an empty school. “One wrong move Plasmius.” Said Valeri warningly.

Rolling his eyes at the threat Vlad glided forward listening to Tucker and Sam talk to Valeri through their communicators. The girl probably didn’t know that his hearing was better than most ghosts. He found it adorable hearing them give directions to Valeri until he stopped in front of the armored door. “I assume Mr Foley haven’t been able to hack this yet.” Said Vlad glancing up at the school camera.

“He says it’s on a different network.” Growled Valeri.

Giving the girl a smile Vlad went intangible and walked right in to the door. It made a loud noise when his head hit the solid surface and he backed away rubbing at his forehead. “Well that was unexpected.” Valeri snickered and he sent her a dark glare before he picked up his phone and dialed his home AI.

The girl went on pulling and pushing at the door trying the electric lock but one needed a card to open it. Vlad on the other hand got his AI to make a scan of the school and show him a reading of what part he couldn’t scan. Letting out an annoyed sigh Vlad pocketed his phone. Valeri took it as a comment on her try to open the door and turned to him with a glare. “You think you can open this. I can’t without bringing the whole building down.” She growled.

Sighing at the girl’s childish attitude he waved at her to move. “Step aside child, let the Master show you how it’s done.”

She stepped to the side letting Vlad walk up to the door. “You seriously talk about yourself in the third person. That’s so typical you.”

Chuckling Vlad robbed his hands together. “Your friend would call me a narcissi’s, and he would be right.” Putting his hand’s against the metal wall Vlad drew a deep breath grabbing his cores power in his mind, drawing it from his chest and out through his arms and fingers forcing it out in to the cold metal. “I don’t care about your people’s feelings, I am arrogant, manipulative and I get what I want.”

Valeri drew in a sharp breath and Vlad opened his eyes looking over his shoulders grinning at her. The glow from the metal gleamed in his eyes. “Tell you something you already know about me Valeri dear. I don’t care if this building burns down, if it stand’s in my way it’s going down.” The girl shied back her weapons pointed at him. He could see the fear in her eyes, proper fear.

Smiling wider Vlad turned to the door sinking his glowing red-hot hands in to the metal and shifting his stance he grabbed hold of the steel frame and ripped it out of the wall. Taking a step back Vlad put down the door with its frame before dusting off his hands. “Guess I have to fix the fire alarm in this place, wouldn’t want the children to be caught inside a burning building, now would we.” He turned to the stairs going down to the school’s boiler room.

Heading down the stairs Vlad held up a glowing hand still hot with the power of his core. He heard Valeri come down the stairs behind him. Drawing his hand over the white painted walls Vlad shivered at the feeling of nails scraping against a blackboard. The room at the bottom of the stairs was solid concrete, pipes going along the walls and up through the ceiling. The janitor had obviously used the room as extra storage for both broken furniture, books and whatever supplies were needed to clean a school. But it was a dead end, no ghost child, no door leading in to another room, no trace that anyone was hiding the boy there.

“If you were someone trying to hid a secret lab in the school basement you would make sure that no staff or student stumbled on it right?” Said Valeri shining her lights around the white painted walls.

“What makes you think there’s a secret lab here?” asked Vlad avoiding touching the whit painted pipes less he wanted to break them. He wasn’t really caring what Valeri said, there was only one logical answer to why the place had been shielded, why the boy hadn’t been seen in a week, why he was screaming. Had it been a ghost he would have been in the ghost-zone and had it been any of the officials he would have been taken to their facilities.

“He and Sam found a place similarly shielded like this during New Year.” Said Valeri walking around the cramped room. “Ember was in some sort of containment cube having been experimented on and her skull cut open.” Vlad shivered at the thought. If that had happened to his boy then he was going to make the mad scientist suffer.

“What’s behind the boiler?” asked Valeri drawing Vlad out of his dark thought.

He gave her an raised eyebrow. “Why do you ask, I don’t have a map for this place.” He reached for his pocket but stopped himself before touching his phone. His hands would still melt metal at a touch, a pesky side effect of his powers.

“Tucker said that and old map of this place show’s a larger cellar than this.” Crossing his arm’s Vlad waved for Valeri to show him, he could see lines glowing red on her visor. “This map is old, like from the forties.” She walked over to the boiler. “There should be more behind this wall.”

Watching the girl search with her hand’s around the boiler he saw her eyes light up and she lifted her head. “And here’s the secret door.” She pulled at something and Vlad had to admit that he was impressed seeing the boiler swing out on invisible hinges, the pipes bent without breaking revealing a door in the wall. “After you.” Said the Valeri pointing for Vlad to walk in.

He walked through the door that led in to a downwards sloping corridor, painted white, smelling of mold and moisture. The corridor was short and the door on the other end was locked. Rolling his eyes Vlad heated up his hands again and tore through the door ripping it off its hinges.

The light in the other room was flickering. The inside was ruined, cracks went up the walls, broken pieces of concrete and transparent thick plastic spread across the floor, together with broken classroom desks and chairs. A computer stood on another desk with glowing blue screens. A metal table stood in the center of the room, a faintly glowing black and white ghost was strapped to it, a man with messy hair and a white lab coat stained with ectoplasm and something greasy lifted his head to stare in surprised at him a gleaming metal scalpel in his hand.

To say that he saw red would be an understatement, Vlad’s vision narrowed to a tunnel letting him only see the man and the scalpel. He didn’t even remember moving, his hand was around the man’s throat pushing him up against the wall drawing a scream from the man. “What have you done?” Growled Vlad, he was forcing himself to not kill the creature in his hands. “What did you do to my Phantom?”

The man spluttered trying to claw his hands off him. Leaning forward Vlad licked his lips tasting fear, sweet and thick. He leaned in closer to whisper in his ear. “Speak before I rip your throat out.”

“Plasmius!” Shouted Valeri. Growling Vlad turned his head to glare at her. She was standing over the table glaring back at him two set of canons aimed at his head. “Kill him and I will show you how much fire power my armor packs.”

Scuffing Vlad lessened his grip on the man’s throat drawing back some of the heat in his hands. “Final chance vermin.”

“Why?” asked the man and Vlad would have ripped his throat out then and there if he didn’t have so much self-control.

“Speak now or I will end you.” Hissed Vlad lifting the man up so his feet were dangling of the ground.

“Why are you working together, you are the ghost child’s enemies, why do you care.” Asked the man his eye’s moving from Vlad to Valeri. “You shouldn’t care if I ripped Phantom apart. You should be thanking me.”

A shuriken sliced through the air to sink in to the wall at the side of the man’s face drawing a thin line of blood. “It’s one thing fighting and beating each other till one win. What you’ve done is torture, for what. What did you think Danny could have given you.”

“It’s just a ghost, it isn’t alive-.” Vlad tightened his grip around his throat cutting off his words and drawing a desperate noise from the man.

Lifting his head Vlad consumed more of the fear letting the power course though his blood, he wanted the man afraid but not scare out of his wits. “That boy is more alive than you’ll ever be. And for what you’ve done you will suffer.” The man spat in Vlad’s face pissing the older ghost off even more. Making a double of himself Vlad got it to overshadow the man. He dropped the him getting the double walk him out.

“What are you going to do to him?” asked Valeri returning her attention to the limp form on the table.

“Make him suffer, Depending on what Danny want’s I might let him live.” Said Vlad walking over to the table he winced seeing his boy. Danny was strapped down with metal bonds, blood and ectoplasm gleaming on his skin. His eyes were closed, his suit was missing the gloves, and the left side of his hair was cut off ectoplasm gleaming from a cut to his temple. “Daniel.” Said Vlad putting a hand to his cheek.

A zap of electricity hit Vlad making him flinch back. “The restraints are electrified.” Said Valeri working on the one around his neck. “It probably has something to do with ghost powers that’s why he hasn’t broke free yet.” Her hands were shaking and she cursed when her hands slipped on the ectoplasm.

Swallowing the bitter taste in his mouth Vlad reached for his cores power. Carefully so as not to hurt Daniel any more, Vlad took the shock of electricity as he ripped the restraints from Danny’s limbs freeing him. Shaking his hands getting the fire to return to hi core Vlad watched as Valeri checked Danny over her friends speaking through their communicator. “He’s not breathing.” Said the girl looking up at Vlad slightly alarmed.

Shrugging Vlad reached out with his core. “He’s still alive.” Sighed Vlad putting an arm under the boy’s shoulders.

“How do you know?” Asked Valeri moving to stop Vlad from taking the boy but he turned the two intangible.

“I know. Tell your talkative friends that I’ll take care of him, you better come up with a reason why he’s been missing for a week or he will have a lot of troubling things to deal with.” Valeri was about to argue but Vlad already had the place in his mind and made the familiar flick of his power teleporting him and Danny out of the ruined cellar.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the last chapter in this story but not the last in the series. Next Story Broken Spirit will be out on Monday in celebration of my secoound year on AO3.

**Author's Note:**

> This story started out as two however I’ve decided to make it one but divided it in to two parts. Part one is called “Lost Soul” Part two I call “Broken Spirit” After having finished writing part one and half of part 2 I decided to split it up again and then make a part 3 that I called “Nightmare”. Believe me I’ve reworked this story so many times that it’s ending is nothing like I first thought of it. Anyhow, I’ll be moving this weekend and my internet might be a bit spotty so you’ll get next weeks chapter this weekend in case I can’t upload it on the usual day.


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